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A review by christopherborum
Thirteen Guests by J. Jefferson Farjeon
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
fast-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? It's complicated
3.5
This is the second JJF book I've read, after The Z Murders. this one was a little better, but had the same implausibly rushed romantic element. People are proposing marriage after only a few days. And the structure is also unusual. The story rushes on, with the Inspector ruminating and his Sergeant dusting for prints and then it just, ends. It jumps from the rising action straight to the denouement. To be fair, after the official summation is presented, there's some tidying up to do that may differ from the report submitted by the police that provides some intriguing alternate theories of the crime.
That plus the period-appropriate but unnecessary casual racism brings it down for me. There's a character who is Chinese and who is spoken about as if he might have some sort of defect. And also he's called a "Chinaman" by the Inspector. Strictly speaking, there's no need for him to be Chinese, other than to create an exotic link to one element of the story. He could easily have been Italian, for example, though I assume the Inspector would then have called him a d#go.
This was better than Z Murders, though. I still have Mystery in White on my TBR shelf. I'll give it a try and see how quickly characters fall in love there. And now there seems to be a whole raft of reprints of his work, so I can keep trying, I guess.
That plus the period-appropriate but unnecessary casual racism brings it down for me. There's a character who is Chinese and who is spoken about as if he might have some sort of defect. And also he's called a "Chinaman" by the Inspector. Strictly speaking, there's no need for him to be Chinese, other than to create an exotic link to one element of the story. He could easily have been Italian, for example, though I assume the Inspector would then have called him a d#go.
This was better than Z Murders, though. I still have Mystery in White on my TBR shelf. I'll give it a try and see how quickly characters fall in love there. And now there seems to be a whole raft of reprints of his work, so I can keep trying, I guess.