3.46 AVERAGE


This reminds me a bit of Sherlock Holmes or August Dupin.
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whoahnellie's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH

Not a fan of the pace or prose

"A frightful crime has been committed at the Glandier, on the border of the forest of Sainte-Genevieve, above Epinay-sur-Orge, at the house of Professor Stangerson. On that night, while the master was working in his laboratory, an attempt was made to assassinate Mademoiselle Stangerson, who was sleeping in a chamber adjoining this laboratory. The doctors do not answer for the life of Mdlle. Stangerson."

This is the main plot of the first book of Joseph Rouletabille series. Its sequel is Le parfum de la dame en noir.

I do recommend the French version of this book since it seems there are some issues concerning the English translation.

First of all, this was a decent mystery and not a badly written book, it just wasn't for me.
In theory, I should have liked it, but the long interlinked sentences disturbed the flow, the attempts of humor didn't work for me and the characters had a lot of potential that wasn't utilized enough for me.
Maybe it's because this is a pretty old murder mystery and I have read some of these already, that this didn't offer much to me. When used to Sherlock Holmes and the works of Agathe Christie, the standart is pretty high.
Some things that where ment to be charming or clever kind of annoyed me, like that all the time people claimed they have already solved the case. The first time this happened was in the first quarter and I wondered if this book contained actually several cases because this felt much too early. In general, it felt a little longer than it needed to be, which, for such a short book, is not a good sign. I just lost interest half way through and just finished the book because I had no other one at hand. The solution was kind of convoluted but parts of it were really interesting.
I really get people that like this book, I just didn't.

Di antara novel-novel crime fiction klasik terbitan Visimedia bbrp waktu belakangan ini -Lupin, Raffles, Lecoq, Dupin, Father Brown, Notting Hill- kisah ini jadi favorit saya. Misterinya rumit, kelokan-kelokannya alurnya cukup unik, sedangkan penyelesaiannya sangat memuaskan. Tokoh utamanya pun (bukan polisi/detektif, tapi seorang wartawan investigasi) sangat enak dinikmati jalan pemikirannya. Logis dan sangat memperhatikan detail. Sebenarnya, sedikit mengingatkan pada Poirot.

Review lengkap di http://bit.ly/14PVxid

Βαρέθηκα τόσο πολύ που το παράτησα 80 σελίδες πριν απο το τέλος.

I'm a fan of the whodunit and a sucker for a good locked room mystery, so this early and clever example sucked me in from the start. I must confess to being unfamiliar with Joseph Rouletabille before reading this, but Leroux uses the template that Conan Doyle laid down and adds his own flourishes. Rather than an established detective, we have a junior reporter for a newspaper, and instead of bumbling police, we have a clever and sharp detective against whom Rouletabille wishes to prove his own wits. But other tropes - the sidekick to whom the detective can explain his cleverness, the Clues (Sam Vimes would have no truck with those), and even the pipe are all present and correct.

The mystery is an intriguing one - a young lady is assaulted in a locked room with no exits other than one door which her rescuers have to break down to get in. And when they do, they find the room empty of assailants. I must confess that since the young lady was a scientist (unusual in a work of this period) working with her father on the 'disassociation of matter', I did wonder a few times if a science fictional resolution would be forthcoming, as I couldn't see any other solution, But the answer was stubbornly natural and, IMO, very clever.

I like the young Rouletabille and found his first adventure a clever and fun read. I also liked the sprinklings throughout the text of mention of a mysterious "lady in black" whose perfume evokes reminisces in Rouletabille and are obvious hooks for the sequel (even before I discovered that the sequel is, indeed, called [b: The Perfume of the Lady in Black|39935807|The Perfume of the Lady in Black|Gaston Leroux|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1524610380s/39935807.jpg|61826186]). I shall look forward to reading more of the Boy Reporter's intrepid adventures.

The Mystery of the Yellow Room is one of the earliest examples of a locked room mystery. It’s by French author, Gaston LeRoux and is the first in a series of novels starring a young reporter-turned-detective, Joseph Rouletabille.

The story opens with young Joseph being sent to investigate the attempted murder of Mathilde Stangerson. He brings his lawyer friend Sainclair and it’s Sainclair’s voice that tells the story, much like Watson tells the stories of Holmes’s brilliance. Mathilde has been attacked, in spite of her room being locked on the inside, someone got in and out, and she is lucky to have escaped with her life.

Further attempts are made on Mathilde’s life, even while Joseph and a second detective, not to mention Mathilde’s father, her suiter and the household staff, are keeping an extra vigilant eye. No doubt her attacker is dangerous and intelligent and, it seems, Mathilde must have some idea of who the attacker is, but is clearly not in a position to name them.

Joseph follows the clues, occasionally getting confused, but mostly using cold clear logic and deductive reasoning. Much like Holmes, he takes the approach that once one has eliminated the impossible, what remains must be the truth. It’s very enjoyable reading about him steadily unravelling the mystery and there are plenty of suspenseful moments and twists and turns.

I’m not sure I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed the Conan Doyle novels, but if you’re a fan of a mystery, then Gaston LeRoux is a must read.