Scan barcode
suzig's review against another edition
3.0
This is the first book I've read by Ethel Lina White and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It's not a traditional murder mystery, but rather a poison pen mystery.
I found the characters engaging, especially Joan and Mrs Corner. Even if the detective himself fell a bit flat and was more of just a vehicle for figuring things out. And the way White anthropomorphizes Fear is interesting, not something I've seen done in another Golden Age book. Some of the accusations in the poison pen letters seem quite thin and inconsequential to a modern reader, although this may be a way of highlighting the simple conventionality of the village.
There were a few things however than dropped this down from a possible 4 stars.
Mainly that one of the most interesting characters is killed of fairly early in the book. It's a recurring pattern in Golden Age murder mysteries that when a woman is independent and interesting and won't bow to convention, she gets knocked off. Which really frustrates me. I often empathize and identify with these characters and it feels like being removed from the story myself.
Also, there are a pair of suicides in the book that I was uncomfortable with that also lowered the book for me. I find the attitude towards suicide in Golden Age books uncomfortable in general.
I think I will read more by White in the future.
Content Notes: suicide
I found the characters engaging, especially Joan and Mrs Corner. Even if the detective himself fell a bit flat and was more of just a vehicle for figuring things out. And the way White anthropomorphizes Fear is interesting, not something I've seen done in another Golden Age book. Some of the accusations in the poison pen letters seem quite thin and inconsequential to a modern reader, although this may be a way of highlighting the simple conventionality of the village.
There were a few things however than dropped this down from a possible 4 stars.
Mainly that one of the most interesting characters is killed of fairly early in the book. It's a recurring pattern in Golden Age murder mysteries that when a woman is independent and interesting and won't bow to convention, she gets knocked off. Which really frustrates me. I often empathize and identify with these characters and it feels like being removed from the story myself.
Also, there are a pair of suicides in the book that I was uncomfortable with that also lowered the book for me. I find the attitude towards suicide in Golden Age books uncomfortable in general.
I think I will read more by White in the future.
Content Notes: suicide
More...