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cpjeanz's review against another edition
4.0
These Golden Age short story mysteries are just my jam. This one was different that the others in that these are more fun romps than they are guess "who done it" but I thoroughly enjoyed each one. Average is such an intriguing character who's dry humor still brings a smile to my face almost 100 years later. The side characters bring depth to the stories and the world as well. I really wish there were more stories and/or a full novel with Average as the main characters, but, I'm happy I got these stories regardless.
Quick hits:
+ Average is a fun character. His wit, his intelligence and his non pompous lifestyle make for an enjoyable main character. I wish we got to explore more of him.
+ The side characters fill out the world in the individual stories as well as the wider plotline.
+ I really felt like I was in the time period with the characters.
+ A unique twist on the detective story using advertisements and creating characters who were similar to the Golden Age detective and Sherlock, but unique enough they didn't feel derivative.
So why only 4 stars? While I had a bunch of fun with this one, none of the stories are distinctly memorable since I wasn't surprised at the resolutions (or didn't have the association of trying to guess the culprit like a traditional novel). I would highly recommend this to mystery fans, it's very quick and fun which is a good palette cleanser for your hard hitting mysteries! 4/5.
Quick hits:
+ Average is a fun character. His wit, his intelligence and his non pompous lifestyle make for an enjoyable main character. I wish we got to explore more of him.
+ The side characters fill out the world in the individual stories as well as the wider plotline.
+ I really felt like I was in the time period with the characters.
+ A unique twist on the detective story using advertisements and creating characters who were similar to the Golden Age detective and Sherlock, but unique enough they didn't feel derivative.
So why only 4 stars? While I had a bunch of fun with this one, none of the stories are distinctly memorable since I wasn't surprised at the resolutions (or didn't have the association of trying to guess the culprit like a traditional novel). I would highly recommend this to mystery fans, it's very quick and fun which is a good palette cleanser for your hard hitting mysteries! 4/5.
thunguyen's review against another edition
3.0
This is a collection of ten short stories featuring the character Average Jones by Samuel Hopkins Adams that were published between April 1910 and April 1911. These stories are not related to each other and could be read as stand-alones. I was vastly impressed at first, it strongly reminds me of Sherlock Holmes, plus: the dialogue is witty, the writing is brilliant, and the humour is one I appreciate. But the novelty quickly wears off after half a dozen stories, meaning the last 4 was kind of boring.
The narration style instantly brought me back to reading Sherlock Holmes back in primary school days. That was so long ago I can't remember anything about it to compare in details. But this one feeling I remember. Bits of information are offered to you as an idiot side character, but you're never inside the detective's head to know what he himself saw and thought, so you can't actively solving the cases, or maybe I'm just too stupid and need a few days to think about it instead of the 30 minutes reading time during which the story unfold. Besides, a lot of observations and their interpretation rely heavily on knowledge of the time period which is over 100 years ago. These stories were written for the readers of New York city in 1910-1911, a lot of things left unsaid but must have been everyday facts and a commonsense that I simply don't possess. The book is full of footnotes, even when it's not related to the stories, I enjoyed reading them and knowing a bit more about the past.
There are 10 stories in this collection. That's all of Average Jones ever existed in literature. Each story is more or less like this: someone brought up the case, some very bizarre and impossible facts were presented, the detective went away and did some very odd and unrelated jobs, a few days later the detective called everyone in to tell them who did what, the end.
The narration style instantly brought me back to reading Sherlock Holmes back in primary school days. That was so long ago I can't remember anything about it to compare in details. But this one feeling I remember. Bits of information are offered to you as an idiot side character, but you're never inside the detective's head to know what he himself saw and thought, so you can't actively solving the cases, or maybe I'm just too stupid and need a few days to think about it instead of the 30 minutes reading time during which the story unfold. Besides, a lot of observations and their interpretation rely heavily on knowledge of the time period which is over 100 years ago. These stories were written for the readers of New York city in 1910-1911, a lot of things left unsaid but must have been everyday facts and a commonsense that I simply don't possess. The book is full of footnotes, even when it's not related to the stories, I enjoyed reading them and knowing a bit more about the past.
There are 10 stories in this collection. That's all of Average Jones ever existed in literature. Each story is more or less like this: someone brought up the case, some very bizarre and impossible facts were presented, the detective went away and did some very odd and unrelated jobs, a few days later the detective called everyone in to tell them who did what, the end.
fernandie's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting angle to the consulting detective format.
Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.
Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.
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