Scan barcode
naluju's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Clever plot, loquacious chracters,
the_maggieg's review
emotional
mysterious
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
shanaqui's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
There's something a little same-y about Brand's writing, particularly between this book and Green for Danger. There are similarities in setup (the small group of suspects), the ingenious plotting to hide the crime, the interactions of the characters as they each blame and suspect the others, and of course the method of detection. Although you couldn't map the characters one-to-one as being similar, I feel like I'd know this was one of Brand's books. That makes sense to some degree -- after all, it's the same detective -- but it produced such a similar tone and story arc that it felt a little strange to me.
One thing Brand was undeniably good at is ratcheting up the tension for the reader. So many accusations, so many jagged little edges of wounds and half-healed jealousies... and someone in the group is a killer; someone in the group is allowing the others to be suspected.
Like Green for Danger, this isn't the most comfortable cosy read as a result. I think I liked it more, though -- I got a little more interested in the characters and which of them did the crime. The ending of this is pretty harrowing, in a whole different way to Green for Danger. As there, justice is ultimately served, but not through a trial and due process; that is one of the major tropes of Golden Age crime that gives me very iffy feelings.
One thing Brand was undeniably good at is ratcheting up the tension for the reader. So many accusations, so many jagged little edges of wounds and half-healed jealousies... and someone in the group is a killer; someone in the group is allowing the others to be suspected.
Like Green for Danger, this isn't the most comfortable cosy read as a result. I think I liked it more, though -- I got a little more interested in the characters and which of them did the crime. The ending of this is pretty harrowing, in a whole different way to Green for Danger. As there, justice is ultimately served, but not through a trial and due process; that is one of the major tropes of Golden Age crime that gives me very iffy feelings.
swathi_narasimhan's review
3.0
This book didn't impress me much. Partly because, I have read much better mysteries before and also, there was lot of bickering among the characters. This is my first Cockrill mystery and he just appears now and then. There is no interrogation of characters but just sitting back and observing the talk going on.
The whodunnit took me by a surprise but I guessed it too, why funnier was as clear as water from early on, howdunnit was guessable too ( provided, you observe the little cues when the characters are described). The climax was what I call 'dramatic' with bomb blast and stuff.
Lots of wordplay is involved and things don't move much until the last few chapters.
Though this is a golden age mystery, this one can't be called as one of my favourites.
The whodunnit took me by a surprise but I guessed it too, why funnier was as clear as water from early on, howdunnit was guessable too ( provided, you observe the little cues when the characters are described). The climax was what I call 'dramatic' with bomb blast and stuff.
Lots of wordplay is involved and things don't move much until the last few chapters.
Though this is a golden age mystery, this one can't be called as one of my favourites.
nichola's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
I know that Green for Danger is considered the best of this series but I much preferred this one.
I am not sure why this one resonated with me. The twist at the end was sneaky and clever. It almost fell into a trap but evaded it with thought. I appreciate that.
I feel like the twisty nature and changes of the book reflect on where more recent and modern British police procedurals are going.
I am not sure why this one resonated with me. The twist at the end was sneaky and clever. It almost fell into a trap but evaded it with thought. I appreciate that.
I feel like the twisty nature and changes of the book reflect on where more recent and modern British police procedurals are going.
dan78's review
4.0
A family gathering at a Country Estate during a wartime Summer, with them they being their troubles and woes from home which in turn lead to a decision from their grandfather that changes all their lives.
Witty, wonderfully sharp and with characters who you constantly want to hear more from! This book was awesome. You could smell the heat from the sun as it scorched the lawns and frayed the tempers of all involved.
Loved it, just still not sure on the detective! This is my 2nd Cockrill novel and I just can't warm to him! Still I'll happily read more!
Witty, wonderfully sharp and with characters who you constantly want to hear more from! This book was awesome. You could smell the heat from the sun as it scorched the lawns and frayed the tempers of all involved.
Loved it, just still not sure on the detective! This is my 2nd Cockrill novel and I just can't warm to him! Still I'll happily read more!
kailey_luminouslibro's review
5.0
Sharp writing, fabulous plot, delicious characters, thrilling suspense, and action to the very last page! Love it!
bvlawson's review
Christianna Brand was born Mary Christianna Milne in 1907 in Malaya, spending her early years in India. When at age 17 she learned her father had lost all his money, she took on a series of jobs including governess, nightclub hostess, ballroom dancer, dress shop model and secretary. She didn't turn her hand to fiction until 1939, with her first novel making it to print after being rejected by fifteen publishers. Death in High Heels was the title of that book, and in an apocryphal story, she got the idea while working as a salesgirl fantasizing about killing a co-worker.
She went on to write several crime fiction novels and short stories, but achieved her peak with the series featuring Inspector Cockrill of the Kent County Police who was modeled on her father-in-law, William Lewis, a doctor. One Cockrill novel, Green for Danger, was hailed by H.R.F. Keating as "the last golden crown of the Golden Age detective story" and made into a movie in 1946 starring Alastair Sim. Unfortunately for crime fiction fans, she mostly dropped the genre, at least in novel form, in the 1950s and concentrated on children's books, most notably Nurse Matilda, which Emma Thompson adapted in 2005 for as the film Nanny McPhee.
Brand was nominated three times for Edgar Awards, twice for short stories and once for a nonfiction work about a true-crime Scottish murder case. She also served as Chair of the Crime Writers Association in 1972-73. She penned essays including some of the best accounts available form the early days of London's Detection Club including remembrances of members Dorothy L. Sayers and Anthony Berkely.
Brand has been called the "female John Dickson Carr" for her locked-room style mysteries, one of which was Suddenly at His Residence (a/k/a The Crooked Wreath, in the U.S.), from the Inspector Cockrill series. Cockrill is another in the long line of eccentric detectives, insightful yet shabby, often called "sparrow-like," or, as he was introduced in his first novel (Heads You Lose),
He was a little brown man who seemed much older than he actually was, with deep-set eyes beneath a fine broad brow, an aquiline nose and a mop of fluffy white hair fringing a magnificent head. He wore his soft felt hat set sideways, as though he would at any moment break out into an amateur rendering of ‘Napoleon’s Farewell to his Troops’; and he was known to Torrington and in all its surrounding villages as Cockie. He was widely advertised as having a heart of gold beneath his irascible exterior; but there were those who said bitterly that the heart was so infinitesimal and you had to dig so deep down to get to it, that it was hardly worth the trouble. The fingers of his right hand were so stained with nicotine as to appear to be tipped with wood.
In Suddenly at His Residence, the plot starts off in a fairly traditional way, where patriarch Sir Richard March is found dead in a Grecian lodge on his estate and suspicion falls on the family members gathered who he was getting ready to disinherit. After Cockrill begins to investigate, another body turns up, and the Inspector will also learn just how far World War II can reach from the battlefield into the countryside. He's also faced with a double "impossible crime" scenario: no footprints or marks at one crime scene involving sand and in another involving dust. Brand's writing is wry and engaging, with plenty of twists and the traditional British Golden Age red herrings, and in fact, her intricate plotting is generally considered the greatest strength of her novels.
She went on to write several crime fiction novels and short stories, but achieved her peak with the series featuring Inspector Cockrill of the Kent County Police who was modeled on her father-in-law, William Lewis, a doctor. One Cockrill novel, Green for Danger, was hailed by H.R.F. Keating as "the last golden crown of the Golden Age detective story" and made into a movie in 1946 starring Alastair Sim. Unfortunately for crime fiction fans, she mostly dropped the genre, at least in novel form, in the 1950s and concentrated on children's books, most notably Nurse Matilda, which Emma Thompson adapted in 2005 for as the film Nanny McPhee.
Brand was nominated three times for Edgar Awards, twice for short stories and once for a nonfiction work about a true-crime Scottish murder case. She also served as Chair of the Crime Writers Association in 1972-73. She penned essays including some of the best accounts available form the early days of London's Detection Club including remembrances of members Dorothy L. Sayers and Anthony Berkely.
Brand has been called the "female John Dickson Carr" for her locked-room style mysteries, one of which was Suddenly at His Residence (a/k/a The Crooked Wreath, in the U.S.), from the Inspector Cockrill series. Cockrill is another in the long line of eccentric detectives, insightful yet shabby, often called "sparrow-like," or, as he was introduced in his first novel (Heads You Lose),
He was a little brown man who seemed much older than he actually was, with deep-set eyes beneath a fine broad brow, an aquiline nose and a mop of fluffy white hair fringing a magnificent head. He wore his soft felt hat set sideways, as though he would at any moment break out into an amateur rendering of ‘Napoleon’s Farewell to his Troops’; and he was known to Torrington and in all its surrounding villages as Cockie. He was widely advertised as having a heart of gold beneath his irascible exterior; but there were those who said bitterly that the heart was so infinitesimal and you had to dig so deep down to get to it, that it was hardly worth the trouble. The fingers of his right hand were so stained with nicotine as to appear to be tipped with wood.
In Suddenly at His Residence, the plot starts off in a fairly traditional way, where patriarch Sir Richard March is found dead in a Grecian lodge on his estate and suspicion falls on the family members gathered who he was getting ready to disinherit. After Cockrill begins to investigate, another body turns up, and the Inspector will also learn just how far World War II can reach from the battlefield into the countryside. He's also faced with a double "impossible crime" scenario: no footprints or marks at one crime scene involving sand and in another involving dust. Brand's writing is wry and engaging, with plenty of twists and the traditional British Golden Age red herrings, and in fact, her intricate plotting is generally considered the greatest strength of her novels.
dylang's review
1.0
Spent a few years looking for this book as it was on a top ten list of the best locked room mysteries on the internet. Struggled though awful, dull prose and thought, well at least there'll be a clever solution. The solution was ridiculous.... no wonder it was so hard to find!
More...