Reviews

The Sussex Downs Murder by Martin Edwards, John Bude

krobart's review against another edition

3.0

See my review here:

https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2017/07/24/day-1109-the-sussex-downs-murder/

greybeard49's review against another edition

3.0

I like period crime novels if well written and constructed. Unfortunately did not rate this book in that category. Very jumpy in approach. Fresh witnesses and pieces of evidence pop up when plot is flagging. Relationship between Meredith and his superior over egged and unconvincing. Spotted ending early in book and I read on towards the inevitable. Of it's time but not particularly well done.

hannah4's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

It’s slow to start but it gets more intense 

cimorene1558's review against another edition

3.0

A good mystery, but one I guessed at the halfway point, and since I strive not to guess endings, that means it's a pretty darn obvious one.

mthorley23's review against another edition

3.0

3.5 stars. I enjoyed the mystery and that the plot revolves around finding actual evidence. So many mysteries hinge on conjecture. I figured out what was happening long before the detective and thought his continuing obtuseness was a bit contrived toward the end. And the wrap up was rather rushed compared to the pacing of the rest of the book. But I was ready for it to wrap up too at that point so it’s just as well. Overall I enjoyed reading the book!

kateea7536's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Brilliantly layered mystery and I loved the fact that you had a lot of insight as the reader into what the main detective was thinking. I loved the setting and time period and I thought there were lots of unexpected moments, I was gripped and love Meredith as a character! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Murder, Death, and Blood

jrenee's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

tombomp's review against another edition

1.0

The nicest way you could describe this book is "competent". The mystery itself is technically sound but he has a tin ear for dialogue writing and his characters barely qualify as such - probably the most well depicted characters are the ones which are merely stereotypes! The main character is a complete cipher and most of the main players have at best a sentence of description. Most action and dialogue is statement of facts with some minimal generic embellishment, which is probably for the best because the times he attempts more it's very clumsy. It felt like the way a child writes. The mystery is technically fine but I feel any experienced mystery reader would have guessed the key plot point the main character only works out at the very end within the first 10 pages - I'm oblivious and still spent the last quarter being annoyed with how much of a dingus the police guy was being.

Spoiler

a faked death - they just assumed a random skeleton was a missing guy

The ending just leaves you feeling like "oh right, fair enough". From what i understand his geographical descriptions are highly accurate (he apologises at one point in a footnote for a slight simplification) which could be interesting but it just means he gives tons of place names and locations it's impossible to keep track of, even with regular references to the map (which doesn't show a lot of important detail because it has to fit in the entire wide area he talks about!)

overall it's not something i hated but i can't think of any reason you'd want to read it and I'll probably forget about it totally soon enough

swathi_narasimhan's review against another edition

5.0

Ingenious devilish plotting. Such a multi layered crime classic with least amount of significant characters.

Golden age detective fiction is superior, and this book is one such example.

mgoodrick's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

A little rushed towards the end but very satisfying and very very well written.