Reviews

Definitely the best book from the bunch that were written by the Detection Club. You can just see the fun they must have had while writing this book. Obviously the ending doesn't make proper sense, but that is to be expected after the final writer, Anthony Berkeley, was left to clear up the mess made by the precious chapters' writers.

ashleylm's review against another edition

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2.0

Superficially this sounds like a great idea—what's better than one great mystery author? Several great mystery authors!—but no. We don't read books by these authors because their individual sentences are so pleasant, we read them because of their skill shaping the mystery and characters and retaining our interest throughout, and when each write only has to muster it up for one chapter, you end up with very little of actual merit. I read this as a kid, and even then I knew it wasn't one for the ages.

(5* = amazing, terrific book, one of my all-time favourites, 4* = very good book, 3* = good book, but nothing to particularly rave about, 2* = disappointing book, and 1* = awful, just awful. As a statistician I know most books are 3s, but I am biased in my selection and end up mostly with 4s, thank goodness.)

francescatso's review against another edition

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3.0

A collectively written detective story. A fun idea, perhaps a little harder to follow in execution due to the different writing styles. Still an entertaining read as you're guessing what will happen along with each new author. Not as cohesive due the nature of it but interesting to read the various solutions. Would recommend reading the authors individually.

sharkybookshelf's review against another edition

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4.0

In a sleepy seaside estuary town, a retired sailor lands a rowing boat containing a dead body, but Inspector Rudge suspects that there’s more to it than initially meets the eye…

I read this on a whim as a bonus entry in my #SharkyReadsChristie project - it’s a collaborative murder mystery where various members of The Detection Club (including Agatha Christie, which is how I came across it) each contribute a chapter, a “relay murder mystery” if you will. Was it an amazing murder mystery? Not particularly. Was it a fun concept and an enjoyable read? Absolutely - each author has to incorporate loose ends from previous chapters and cannot introduce randomly confusing clues (all clues must be justifiable). The result is, of course, a mish-mash of styles and pacing, but I thoroughly enjoyed playing along and thinking how the clues that get thrown in might get interpreted later on, seeing the directions in which the different writers took the story, what they each chose to focus on. Each author also wrote a brief summary of how they expected the solution to unfold, and these were all included in the notes at the end, which was actually my favourite part of the book - it was fascinating to see where they drew similar conclusions and where they really didn’t, and how the same clues were sometimes interpreted so differently. It very much drives home the intellectual puzzle style of so many “Golden Age” murder mysteries (which, incidentally, is what I love so much about Christie). A relatively middling murder mystery, but a fun read nevertheless by dint of how it was put together - best approached as a game while considering where you would go with each clue that pops up.

aliceandthegiantbookshelf's review against another edition

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dark 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? It's complicated

3.0

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