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joyceheinen's review
mysterious
slow-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
3.0
“Murder by the Seaside” is a short story collection, filled with ten murder mysteries set during the summer, written by classic authors. These stories were not specifically written for this collection, because this was released in 2022.
While the seaside is the red thread through this collection, it’s not that present in all the stories. I don’t read classic novels often, so of all the authors that had stories in this collection, Arthur Conan Doyle was the only author I had read from before. The rest were all new to me.
There were a few stories I particularly liked. “Weight and See” by Cyril Hare is a story about a woman that was found dead in her house, with a blow to the head and no forced entry. I enjoyed the simplicity of this story, with the detective going over all the evidence he has in the house. “The Furies” by Michael Innes follows the death of Miss Pinhorn, a wealthy woman that wasn’t very loved by people. I felt a lot like a “Knives Out” type of story. “Error at Daybreak” by John Dickson Carr follows Bill, who is visiting his friend at his beach house and he sees him collapse. And he believes he was murdered. This story had a fun twist. But my favorite story was “Razor Edge” by Anthony Berkeley, where a woman reports her husband missing after he went swimming and didn’t return. They find a body, which is identified as his and they questions is: was his drowning accidental or was it murder? We follow the autopsy closely and it felt like an episode of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”. These stories really stood out. The Sherlock Holmes story, “The Boscomb Valley Mystery” by Arthur Conan Doyle, was also enjoyable. The rest of the stories were pretty forgettable, rating them from 2 to 3 stars.
I expected this book to be as good as it was, with some really good stories, some average ones and some I didn’t really care about. It’s easy to read, even though it’s more classic writing and slower paced, but because the stories are so short, you really fly through.
While the seaside is the red thread through this collection, it’s not that present in all the stories. I don’t read classic novels often, so of all the authors that had stories in this collection, Arthur Conan Doyle was the only author I had read from before. The rest were all new to me.
There were a few stories I particularly liked. “Weight and See” by Cyril Hare is a story about a woman that was found dead in her house, with a blow to the head and no forced entry. I enjoyed the simplicity of this story, with the detective going over all the evidence he has in the house. “The Furies” by Michael Innes follows the death of Miss Pinhorn, a wealthy woman that wasn’t very loved by people. I felt a lot like a “Knives Out” type of story. “Error at Daybreak” by John Dickson Carr follows Bill, who is visiting his friend at his beach house and he sees him collapse. And he believes he was murdered. This story had a fun twist. But my favorite story was “Razor Edge” by Anthony Berkeley, where a woman reports her husband missing after he went swimming and didn’t return. They find a body, which is identified as his and they questions is: was his drowning accidental or was it murder? We follow the autopsy closely and it felt like an episode of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”. These stories really stood out. The Sherlock Holmes story, “The Boscomb Valley Mystery” by Arthur Conan Doyle, was also enjoyable. The rest of the stories were pretty forgettable, rating them from 2 to 3 stars.
I expected this book to be as good as it was, with some really good stories, some average ones and some I didn’t really care about. It’s easy to read, even though it’s more classic writing and slower paced, but because the stories are so short, you really fly through.
charcharbiddle's review
3.0
Last 2 stories and the furies were good but some of the others were average at best.
itsluigi's review
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
ella09's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
llava_'s review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
emilia6721's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
aceray's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
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
3.75
chills_multiply's review
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
The stories were nice enough, very quick to read, which was good for a holiday read. Unfortunately several of the stories are not at the beach at all, which was disappointing. The first story is set in Herefordshire which is a landlocked county!