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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
Classic whodunnit, set in an English village. Good sick day read.
A clever whodunnit, a book within a book, and a perfect October read.
Fans of classic British murder mysteries and Midsomer Murders will love this book!
Was such a great mystery novel. The two murder mysteries connected in such an amazing way keeping me entertained throughout the whole book. Would highly recommend to those who love Agatha Christie.
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was my first novel by Mr. Horowitz, and it was fine. The story-within-a-story bit was interesting, but I did feel like when the intra-book ended, there was a huge loss of tension that had been built up, because we left that inner world. It felt kind of like a lag in the book. Overall, it was fine. Maybe felt a tad long. My brief look at Mr. Horowitz's Wikipedia mentioned that he is one of those people who freaks out over cancel culture, so this is probably if for me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Terminal illness, Blood, Murder
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol
This author had a high opinion of his own intellect and a correspondingly low opinion of his readers'.
As a conceit, the mystery-within-a-mystery worked...effectively. The interior Golden Age novel was amusing, and the reader can delude themselves that the glaring internal inconsistencies (for example, an alibi based on an element of a conversation that--oops!-- never happened) would have been caught by our plucky heroine, The Editor. And yet. The author targets this novel for readers of Golden Age detective fiction and then writes it as though his audience is a class of rather uninspired high school creative writing students. Very obvious points of plot are carefully explained to the idiot reader-- the institution of the English "Public School" for example, which would have been a familiar hat tip to any Sayers fan who enjoyed "Murder Must Advertise" -- is called "Private School" lest it throw the un-initiated American reader into fits of confusion from which they might never recover.
Even leaving the more subtle points aside, the villain of the piece is nearly mustache-twirlingly obvious, the heroine eye-rollingly obtuse and -- predictably-- rescued from the danger her own plucky intellect gets her into by the timely arrival of her love interest. Just put it down after the first 150 pages and you won't have missed a thing.
As a conceit, the mystery-within-a-mystery worked...effectively. The interior Golden Age novel was amusing, and the reader can delude themselves that the glaring internal inconsistencies (for example, an alibi based on an element of a conversation that--oops!-- never happened) would have been caught by our plucky heroine, The Editor. And yet. The author targets this novel for readers of Golden Age detective fiction and then writes it as though his audience is a class of rather uninspired high school creative writing students. Very obvious points of plot are carefully explained to the idiot reader-- the institution of the English "Public School" for example, which would have been a familiar hat tip to any Sayers fan who enjoyed "Murder Must Advertise" -- is called "Private School" lest it throw the un-initiated American reader into fits of confusion from which they might never recover.
Even leaving the more subtle points aside, the villain of the piece is nearly mustache-twirlingly obvious, the heroine eye-rollingly obtuse and -- predictably-- rescued from the danger her own plucky intellect gets her into by the timely arrival of her love interest. Just put it down after the first 150 pages and you won't have missed a thing.
Finished this an hour before book club & proud to say I correctly guessed one of the two killers
I can’t rate this book without spoilers because everything that’s awesome about it is a spoiler! But I’ll be as light as possible in case anyone clicks through.
But I couldn’t put this book down! The most fantastic thing that kept amazing me is the authors ability to write in so many styles!! The shift between them is so clear but perfectly blended.
A very unusual plot that I’d never seen before and kept me on the edge of my seat. I love the meta of looking at whodunnit books.
There are a few things that I’m kind of meh about, or confused, but overall I just had a fun ride and that’s what’s important
But I couldn’t put this book down! The most fantastic thing that kept amazing me is the authors ability to write in so many styles!! The shift between them is so clear but perfectly blended.
A very unusual plot that I’d never seen before and kept me on the edge of my seat. I love the meta of looking at whodunnit books.
There are a few things that I’m kind of meh about, or confused, but overall I just had a fun ride and that’s what’s important
Horowitz must have had a lot of fun, switching up writing styles to write this (it is two books in one: one book written by the murder victim, the other written by the editor who read his book and tries to solve his murder. Then we have snippets of other works that the editor reads).