A review by depizan
Murder by Matchlight by E.C.R. Lorac

3.0

This is a bit of a hard one to rate, as the mystery was quite good right up to the explanation of who dun it - part of that hinged on something I just don't believe, and that kind of made the whole thing fall apart.

That is, that you can definitely tell someone's age - with the two ages being 45 and 60. I've had a number of customer service jobs, and I can tell you flat out that there are 45 year olds who look far older than 60 and 60 year olds who could be mistaken for 30somethings. So the whole conceit of the 45 year old with lined skin and white hair not having the "trappings of age," whatever that's supposed to mean, just doesn't fly. That he convincingly passed for 60, yes. That the detective and a bunch of other people were suspicious, no.

There were also a hecking lot of coincidences, but that's kind of par for the course with mysteries. It was also a bit "of its time," if you know what I mean. Though, not as badly as some I've read.