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3.46 AVERAGE
3.46 AVERAGE
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
As far as locked room mysteries go I can see why it’s a classic. The “how was it done” was done well. But I really disliked the solution. The “detective did it” just isn’t my cup of tea.
Read this only about 5 years ago. Can't remember anything now. Was it that forgettable? :/
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Las 3 estrellas son por la escritura.
La historia es demasiado fantastica como para que tenga mucho sentido, los personajes algunos aburridos otros medio tontos, como siempre mucha falta de comunicacion para poder crear un misterio.
Siento que me paso lo mismo con el fantasma de la opera.
La historia es demasiado fantastica como para que tenga mucho sentido, los personajes algunos aburridos otros medio tontos, como siempre mucha falta de comunicacion para poder crear un misterio.
Siento que me paso lo mismo con el fantasma de la opera.
A very well-written novel indeed. I liked it in general, but what I didn't really like was the dénouement. Disappointing. Too... Realistic.
But I guess it couldn't have been any better.
Made me want to read The Perfume of the Lady in Black.
But I guess it couldn't have been any better.
Made me want to read The Perfume of the Lady in Black.
Agatha Christie praises this book in her autobiography. It's clear to see that it influenced her own writing style. I enjoyed reading it, but I prefer Christie, Marsh, or Sayers any day.
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This novel needs to be read with the publishing period in mind and suspension of disbelief. Slow going in places with lots of description, and the ending provide a full explanation though it was disappointing compared to today's standards.
5/10. A classic of sleuthing literature and known as one of the first locked room mysteries.
This was a re-read most likely, and if it is I'm not surprised this hadn't stuck in my mind.
Our young journalist and sleuth Rouletabille despises the methods of the fictional detectives of Poe and Conan Doyle. He hates how they start with physical evidence and make deductions from it, whereas he engages with the right end of his reason and then finds that evidence fits his theories. And yet his method is supposedly safer against biases and jumping to the wrong conclusion? Sure...
We have a very dull first person narrator, with the insertion of a report from Rouletabille's journal and a couple of reports from trusted clerks. And with the events in the yellow bedroom being so baffling, it wasn't long before I anticipated an explanation that would be even more far fetched than the one in The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. I love the Moonstone despite that - but here we don't even have good characterization. We learn nothing about most of the characters. The two we end up knowing "best" are Rouletabille and the police detective working the case. And yet we don't know them, just bits of how their minds work.
The style is nothing to write home about - it certainly has a journalistic feel. I checked wiki after reading and I'd guessed right that this was first a newspaper serial publication, and learnt that Leroux had actually been a journalist.
There are a fair few instances where Rouletabille knows more than the narrator and the reader. It's OK when the narrator goes to meet him again and it takes a bit of time to get the full catchup. But we learn a bit late about a key conversation that Rouletabille witnessed days before the events. And when the time of the resolution comes, we first hear about an infamous criminal 20 years earlier. Sorry that's cheating!
And the whole thing relies on a victim and her fiancé who know who the culprit is (or at least half the culprit), but simply won't talk. And surely Rouletabille had enough information to get at least one of these talking.
While I didn't find the back story and motive for action too hard to believe, I'm still a bit confused about whether the culprit wanted his victim back or dead, and the actual explanation for what happened in the yellow bedroom really stretches belief.
There's some merit in this impossible to solve mystery and it's a well paced quick read, but it was a letdown.
This was a re-read most likely, and if it is I'm not surprised this hadn't stuck in my mind.
Our young journalist and sleuth Rouletabille despises the methods of the fictional detectives of Poe and Conan Doyle. He hates how they start with physical evidence and make deductions from it, whereas he engages with the right end of his reason and then finds that evidence fits his theories. And yet his method is supposedly safer against biases and jumping to the wrong conclusion? Sure...
We have a very dull first person narrator, with the insertion of a report from Rouletabille's journal and a couple of reports from trusted clerks. And with the events in the yellow bedroom being so baffling, it wasn't long before I anticipated an explanation that would be even more far fetched than the one in The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. I love the Moonstone despite that - but here we don't even have good characterization. We learn nothing about most of the characters. The two we end up knowing "best" are Rouletabille and the police detective working the case. And yet we don't know them, just bits of how their minds work.
The style is nothing to write home about - it certainly has a journalistic feel. I checked wiki after reading and I'd guessed right that this was first a newspaper serial publication, and learnt that Leroux had actually been a journalist.
There are a fair few instances where Rouletabille knows more than the narrator and the reader. It's OK when the narrator goes to meet him again and it takes a bit of time to get the full catchup. But we learn a bit late about a key conversation that Rouletabille witnessed days before the events. And when the time of the resolution comes, we first hear about an infamous criminal 20 years earlier. Sorry that's cheating!
And the whole thing relies on a victim and her fiancé who know who the culprit is (or at least half the culprit), but simply won't talk. And surely Rouletabille had enough information to get at least one of these talking.
While I didn't find the back story and motive for action too hard to believe, I'm still a bit confused about whether the culprit wanted his victim back or dead, and the actual explanation for what happened in the yellow bedroom really stretches belief.
There's some merit in this impossible to solve mystery and it's a well paced quick read, but it was a letdown.
Brilliantly baffling...
Mademoiselle Mathilde Stangerson is attacked in her yellow bedroom by a murderer wielding a mutton-bone. When her father and the other people in the house break down the door, Mlle S is on the floor and her murderer is nowhere to be found. There are three exceedingly strange things about this – one: how did the murderer get out of a room in which the only door and window were securely locked; and two: why does everyone keep calling him a murderer when Mlle S is still alive...; and three: a mutton-bone???
OK, to my great disappointment I discovered a mutton-bone is actually the name given to a club-like weapon much used by villains of the day, so that solves number three. Number 2 – the murderer with the living victim – becomes progressively more hysterical as the book goes on and Mlle S stubbornly refuses to die. I couldn’t help wondering what she felt every time a newspaper or one of the characters talked about her murder.
The real meat of the thing, though, is not on the mutton-bone, but in the question of how the murderer got out of the room. Enter our hero, Joseph Rouletabille, (a nickname meaning “Roll Your Marble”, given to him, presumably, on account of his large round red head), a young journalist who at the age of eighteen has already acquired a reputation as an inspired amateur detective. He is introduced to us by our narrator, Jean Sainclair, a young lawyer and friend who acts as Rouletabille’s sidekick.
Off they go to the Château du Glandier, where they will meet Mathilde and her father, her fiance, her loyal and devoted servant, and various assorted estate workers and villagers, all with or without alibis and motives, and all behaving suspiciously in one way or another. Even Frédéric Larsan, famed investigator of the Sûreté, will find himself hard put to it to come up with a solution to this baffling mystery, and when he does, it will be entirely different from Rouletabille’s solution. Who will prove to be right? And how will he (the one who’s right) prove he’s right? And will they catch the murderer before the murder victim is finally murdered???
This is a fabulous little romp that is more and more fun as it goes along. First published in French in 1907, I can’t find anything to tell me who the translator was. At first, I felt the language was quite stilted and thought it could do with a modern update. But as the book’s general mildly melodramatic tone began to come through, I realised the style of the translation is actually perfect for it. It makes it feel terribly French and very old-fashioned – both things which add considerably to its charm.
The plotting is great, enhanced by a couple of detailed floor plans allowing the reader to try to get to the solution before Rouletabille. (I failed miserably!) The initial mystery of the locked room is only one of the “impossible crime” features – there is another halfway through which is not only baffling but quite spooky, and there are other sections where Leroux creates a beautifully tense atmosphere. But overall the book leans more towards entertainment with lots of humour, especially in the rivalry between Rouletabille and Larsan. I love that the title of the first chapter is In Which We Begin Not to Understand – sets the light-hearted tone superbly before the book even begins. The villagers are about as welcoming as the ones in The Wicker Man, complete with a surly publican and a witchy old crone with an exceptionally scary cat called Bête du Bon Dieu, so some lovely almost Gothic touches sprinkled into the story.
Rouletabille’s ability to see through the fog of confusion to the truth that eludes all others is well-nigh miraculous, enhanced by Sainclair’s supreme admiration for his young friend. Rouletabille is the master of the enigmatic utterance, throwing suspects into terror while keeping Sainclair (and me) totally befuddled. But when all is revealed, we see that we have indeed had all the clues all along – well, all the important ones anyway – and it’s only our inferior brain-power that has left us trailing in Rouletabille’s brilliant wake...
Hercule Poirot wasn’t baffled, of course, when he read this book. He talks about it in The Clocks, saying...
“And here is The Mystery of the Yellow Room. That – that really is a classic! I approve of it from start to finish. Such a logical approach!... All through there is truth, concealed with a careful and cunning use of words... Definitely a masterpiece...”
… and Poirot (and Ms Christie) knew a thing or two about crime fiction. Poirot is not Rouletabille’s only admirer among the fictional detective classes – John Dickson Carr’s Gideon Fell refers to the book as “the best detective tale ever written”. I must say the physical book from the Collins Crime Club series is gorgeous too, with a great cover, including quotes from Poirot and Fell where normally there would be puffs from fellow writers. Made me laugh with delight before I even opened it.
I’m so glad to have had the chance to read this one, since I’ve seen it referred to often in my recent travels through vintage crime. And I’m even more glad to be able to say that I feel it fully deserves its reputation, both for the skill in the plotting and for the entertainment value in the storytelling. An essential read for vintage crime fans!
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Collins Crime Club.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Mademoiselle Mathilde Stangerson is attacked in her yellow bedroom by a murderer wielding a mutton-bone. When her father and the other people in the house break down the door, Mlle S is on the floor and her murderer is nowhere to be found. There are three exceedingly strange things about this – one: how did the murderer get out of a room in which the only door and window were securely locked; and two: why does everyone keep calling him a murderer when Mlle S is still alive...; and three: a mutton-bone???
OK, to my great disappointment I discovered a mutton-bone is actually the name given to a club-like weapon much used by villains of the day, so that solves number three. Number 2 – the murderer with the living victim – becomes progressively more hysterical as the book goes on and Mlle S stubbornly refuses to die. I couldn’t help wondering what she felt every time a newspaper or one of the characters talked about her murder.
The real meat of the thing, though, is not on the mutton-bone, but in the question of how the murderer got out of the room. Enter our hero, Joseph Rouletabille, (a nickname meaning “Roll Your Marble”, given to him, presumably, on account of his large round red head), a young journalist who at the age of eighteen has already acquired a reputation as an inspired amateur detective. He is introduced to us by our narrator, Jean Sainclair, a young lawyer and friend who acts as Rouletabille’s sidekick.
Off they go to the Château du Glandier, where they will meet Mathilde and her father, her fiance, her loyal and devoted servant, and various assorted estate workers and villagers, all with or without alibis and motives, and all behaving suspiciously in one way or another. Even Frédéric Larsan, famed investigator of the Sûreté, will find himself hard put to it to come up with a solution to this baffling mystery, and when he does, it will be entirely different from Rouletabille’s solution. Who will prove to be right? And how will he (the one who’s right) prove he’s right? And will they catch the murderer before the murder victim is finally murdered???
This is a fabulous little romp that is more and more fun as it goes along. First published in French in 1907, I can’t find anything to tell me who the translator was. At first, I felt the language was quite stilted and thought it could do with a modern update. But as the book’s general mildly melodramatic tone began to come through, I realised the style of the translation is actually perfect for it. It makes it feel terribly French and very old-fashioned – both things which add considerably to its charm.
The plotting is great, enhanced by a couple of detailed floor plans allowing the reader to try to get to the solution before Rouletabille. (I failed miserably!) The initial mystery of the locked room is only one of the “impossible crime” features – there is another halfway through which is not only baffling but quite spooky, and there are other sections where Leroux creates a beautifully tense atmosphere. But overall the book leans more towards entertainment with lots of humour, especially in the rivalry between Rouletabille and Larsan. I love that the title of the first chapter is In Which We Begin Not to Understand – sets the light-hearted tone superbly before the book even begins. The villagers are about as welcoming as the ones in The Wicker Man, complete with a surly publican and a witchy old crone with an exceptionally scary cat called Bête du Bon Dieu, so some lovely almost Gothic touches sprinkled into the story.
Rouletabille’s ability to see through the fog of confusion to the truth that eludes all others is well-nigh miraculous, enhanced by Sainclair’s supreme admiration for his young friend. Rouletabille is the master of the enigmatic utterance, throwing suspects into terror while keeping Sainclair (and me) totally befuddled. But when all is revealed, we see that we have indeed had all the clues all along – well, all the important ones anyway – and it’s only our inferior brain-power that has left us trailing in Rouletabille’s brilliant wake...
Hercule Poirot wasn’t baffled, of course, when he read this book. He talks about it in The Clocks, saying...
“And here is The Mystery of the Yellow Room. That – that really is a classic! I approve of it from start to finish. Such a logical approach!... All through there is truth, concealed with a careful and cunning use of words... Definitely a masterpiece...”
… and Poirot (and Ms Christie) knew a thing or two about crime fiction. Poirot is not Rouletabille’s only admirer among the fictional detective classes – John Dickson Carr’s Gideon Fell refers to the book as “the best detective tale ever written”. I must say the physical book from the Collins Crime Club series is gorgeous too, with a great cover, including quotes from Poirot and Fell where normally there would be puffs from fellow writers. Made me laugh with delight before I even opened it.
I’m so glad to have had the chance to read this one, since I’ve seen it referred to often in my recent travels through vintage crime. And I’m even more glad to be able to say that I feel it fully deserves its reputation, both for the skill in the plotting and for the entertainment value in the storytelling. An essential read for vintage crime fans!
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Collins Crime Club.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com