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tarshka's review
2.0
I know I read this book a long time ago, but I don't remember much. Even reading the description brings nothing back. So I guess I didn't care much about it.
liahecht's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
judyward's review against another edition
3.0
Beware of expensive spa hotels. Apparently you can get yourself killed in one. A high price to pay for a rest cure. Call in Inspector Roderick Alleyn, C.I.D. to ferret out everyone's secrets and unravel the mystery.
cheryl6of8's review against another edition
4.0
On Halloween I was in the mood for a mystery and you can never go wrong with Ngaio Marsh. The title was fitting for Halloween as well.
This was a mystery within a mystery, with tentacles in the past and more than one scoundrel to be suspected. A small English village with flashy moneyed folk and bad blood and pettiness. Entailment of property. Wills forbidding marriage. Buried treasure. Rest cures. References to World War Two. All of the classic ingredients come together for a nice British mystery.
This was a mystery within a mystery, with tentacles in the past and more than one scoundrel to be suspected. A small English village with flashy moneyed folk and bad blood and pettiness. Entailment of property. Wills forbidding marriage. Buried treasure. Rest cures. References to World War Two. All of the classic ingredients come together for a nice British mystery.
macbean221b's review against another edition
3.0
I liked this one because I got a real surprise near the end; I was looking in the direction that Ngaio Marsh tried to get me to look in, and missed what was actually going on.
missn80's review against another edition
mysterious
relaxing
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? No
4.0
verityw's review against another edition
3.0
Another good late Alleyn mystery. This one has a suspicious death and a parcel of unattractive people benefitting from it. I wanted a bit more resolution to some of the end of this, but the actual culprit and method of the crime were good.
tlsouthard's review against another edition
3.0
Good enough mystery - I figured out who, but not how. I like Inspector Alleyn.
emerion's review against another edition
hopeful
mysterious
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? No
4.0
smcleish's review
3.0
Originally published on my blog here in September 1999.
Grave Mistake was one of Marsh's very last novels, published in the late seventies. It forms part of a group of good novels which she wrote at this period, being one of her best village crime stories. Like most of her other novels, its characters are taken mainly from the English upper classes.
When the rich widow Sybil Foster dies in an exclusive nursing home near her home, it at first looks as though she had taken an overdose. But it doesn't take long before medical evidence makes it quite clear that this cannot have been what has happened. Though a foolish woman, she did not have enemies, but there are several people who covet her possessions. These include a stepson from her first marriage, whose father's money she enjoyed for life before it passed to him; her neighbour, Greek oil tycoon Nikolas Markos, who covets the house she will not sell, and whose son is betrothed to Sybil's daughter against her wishes. This mixture is further confused by a mystery over the fate of a rare stamp that belonged to her first husband and disappeared at his death.
Little concession is made to the supposedly seventies setting; other than passing references to motorways and Concorde, this could be pre-war England. That means, at least, that we are spared the embarrassing attempts to be contemporary which mar several earlier novels.
Grave Mistake was one of Marsh's very last novels, published in the late seventies. It forms part of a group of good novels which she wrote at this period, being one of her best village crime stories. Like most of her other novels, its characters are taken mainly from the English upper classes.
When the rich widow Sybil Foster dies in an exclusive nursing home near her home, it at first looks as though she had taken an overdose. But it doesn't take long before medical evidence makes it quite clear that this cannot have been what has happened. Though a foolish woman, she did not have enemies, but there are several people who covet her possessions. These include a stepson from her first marriage, whose father's money she enjoyed for life before it passed to him; her neighbour, Greek oil tycoon Nikolas Markos, who covets the house she will not sell, and whose son is betrothed to Sybil's daughter against her wishes. This mixture is further confused by a mystery over the fate of a rare stamp that belonged to her first husband and disappeared at his death.
Little concession is made to the supposedly seventies setting; other than passing references to motorways and Concorde, this could be pre-war England. That means, at least, that we are spared the embarrassing attempts to be contemporary which mar several earlier novels.
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