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lilacs_book_bower's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
This is my first Ngaio Marsh, and her first!, and while it generally left a favorable impression, there are definitely some odd parts. There is the normal classism and racism of the time, and the whole Russian political cult is incredibly ridiculous and to go from an English country house murder scene to torture at the end was a weird change of topic, genre, flavor, etc . I did think the person with the greatest motive was likely the murderer, but it seemed kind of obvious that it was possible, so I thought there would be another twist coming. I guess the twist was the absolute ridiculous series of events that needed to happen for the murder to occur in about 30 seconds. The characterization of the detective is also all over the place, by the book, humorous, wry, mean, etc. The saving grace of the story is there are several funny lines or pieces of dialogue. I might read more Marsh, but I will probably only pick one up if the mystery sounds especially good.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Classism, Racial slurs, Torture, Racism, and Bullying
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