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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
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:
Complicated
lighthearted
mysterious
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Charmingly written, quite wise and funny, but disappoints slightly as a mystery. Nobody, in the end, deduces anything. I'm certain Tey has written at least one absolute corker of a detective novel, but this isn't it.
A bit frustrating and disturbing (at least in my recollection--it's been a while--I suspect the plot didn't go where I wanted or expected it to), but never less than a gripping read.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve!
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve!
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Robert Blair, abogado en un pequeño y apacible pueblo británico, da ya por terminada su tranquila jornada laboral en el despacho cuando suena el teléfono. Es Marion Sharpe, vecina de la localidad, una mujer de pocas palabras que vive con su madre en una decrépita hacienda a las afueras del pueblo. Las Sharpe acaban de ser acusadas de secuestrar a una recatada jovencita llamada Betty Kane. Las declaraciones de la chica, al principio bastante improbables, cobran fuerza con las minuciosas descripciones del desván de los horrores donde supuestamente la tuvieron retenida. Y Robert Blair, convertido a la fuerza en detective amateur, deberá desentrañar este paradójico caso, que ni tan siquiera el Inspector de Scotland Yard, Alan Grant, es capaz de comprender.
Traducción: Pablo González-Nuevo
Traducción: Pablo González-Nuevo
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
Quite good. Unnecessarily drawn out at times.
I also appreciate a detective story with no murders.
I also appreciate a detective story with no murders.
I so enjoyed this book. It was clever but so far from the "clever" noir of contemporary crime. This is about the crime of dishonesty, character smearing, trial by newspapers, human nature and mob mentality ... plus ca change!
A mother and daughter who live frugally in a rundown isolated house are accused of kidnapping and abusing a schoolgirl – and all their lives are changed by what ensues. I gather this story is based on actual events. It encapsulates parochial living in semi-rural Britain in the 1940s - status, reputation, assumptions and appearances.
So many passages made me luxuriate in the writing (and manners) of the time and what could be said!
"Robert had never subscribed to the French taste for small sweet mouthfuls of unidentifiable liquids drunk at odd times" p125
"From the expressions on the faces of her audience she was summed up as a slut and no one would trust her with sixpence" p210
"You have no idea the sweeping-up hairdressing makes to a woman" p222
This is pure Golden Age crime fiction. Loved it
A mother and daughter who live frugally in a rundown isolated house are accused of kidnapping and abusing a schoolgirl – and all their lives are changed by what ensues. I gather this story is based on actual events. It encapsulates parochial living in semi-rural Britain in the 1940s - status, reputation, assumptions and appearances.
So many passages made me luxuriate in the writing (and manners) of the time and what could be said!
"Robert had never subscribed to the French taste for small sweet mouthfuls of unidentifiable liquids drunk at odd times" p125
"From the expressions on the faces of her audience she was summed up as a slut and no one would trust her with sixpence" p210
"You have no idea the sweeping-up hairdressing makes to a woman" p222
This is pure Golden Age crime fiction. Loved it
This was fun
And Mrs. Sharpe and Marion Sharpe deserve all the stars
And Mrs. Sharpe and Marion Sharpe deserve all the stars