Title: Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story Author: Leonie Swann
US Date: 2008
When shepherd George Glenn is found in his field with a spade driven through his body, the sheep he leaves behind take it upon themselves to solve the murder. The victim's habit of reading to his flock has rendered the animals unusually intelligent, and each sheep contributes his or her own talent as they observe the villagers of Glennkill in hopes of uncovering the mystery. The best detectives in the flock appear to be the brilliant Miss Maple, smart enough to avoid the trivial "Smartest Sheep in Glennkill" contest, the bold black ram Othello, and the all-remembering (and all-eating) Mopple the Whale. As the sheep piece together clues and debate motives, they find that there's no shortage of suspects: "Bible-thumping Beth" paid George frequent visits, George's wife Kate was unhappy, the neighboring shepherd Gabriel has a strange flock of non-fleecy sheep, and the flock's favorite human to place under suspicion, Ham the Butcher, always smells of "screams, pain, and blood."
The novel can be cute and gentle but also darkly humorous, and even though the author has fun with the genre, there are serious elements to the story. Swann strikes a balance between making her furry protagonists intelligent and human enough to have emotional depth while still allowing them to maintain a sheep-y, childlike view of the world. A ram has a point after all, when he notes that death caused by blood-inducing injuries is "All perfectly natural," and no sheep is above ogling aromatic vegetables. While the novel is primarily a mystery, these particular sheep are also rather philosophical and will, for instance, pass their time pondering the "cloud sheep" in the sky, wondering what one does to become a "cloud sheep." Othello in particular is a very introspective ram, having lived through the horrors of a circus and the exoticism of residing in a zoo. The sheep's personalities are treated with as much care as those of any human characters, and the fate of the shepherd-less flock becomes as central to the story as the identity of the murderer.
The novel is not a fast-paced mystery, but taking time to graze among the sheep as they wax philosophic about the advantages and downfalls of being part of a flock, whether it's comprised of sheep or humans, is just as rewarding as their moments of amateur sleuthing.
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