Book Review: Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann

Three Bags Full:  A Sheep Detective Story (2005, English Translation by Anthea Bell 2006)

Leonie Swan

I find it hard to praise a book it took me seven long and painful months to plod through. In truth, I had expected to be completely delighted with Leonie Swann's first novel Three Bags Full. Carl Hiaasen, trusted author of any number of offbeat but reliably amusing novels, has a glowing cover blurb above the title. How could I go wrong?

The premise seemed both promising and original: a flock of sheep set out to solve the murder of their shepherd. One of the sheep, the cleverest, is named Miss Maple. It sounds like a lot of fun, right?

Wrong! First off, I did not find the sheep endearing in the slightest. I cared for the human characters even less. I kept expecting some big payoff, but all I encountered was a meandering flock and a meandering, tedious tale. It's not that the writing or even the translation were really bad--they weren't--but rather that I found the whole confection utterly boring.

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