Scan barcode
A review by izzatiidrus
The Anatomy of Murder by The Detection Club
3.0
I bought two books by The Detection Club merely because Agatha Christie and Anthony Berkeley were part of the club. I thoroughly enjoyed Berkeley's style of writing with his approach to the humanity, morality and psychology of murderers in his other works, and figured I'd enjoy these books too, regardless what they're about. Little did I know that these books are not detective novels - they're actual cases as discussed by detective novelists.
See, the biggest difference between the two is that real cases are not often wrapped neatly like presents with pretty ribbons at the end - we don't always know who actually did it and we don't always get justice even if the cases went to court. The reality is that justice very much depends on how the 'game' is played in the court. Berkeley said it best, "The fact that a life is dependent on the way the game is played, and the winning of it, is lost in the game itself."
So it is very interesting to see how these famous novelists discussed the cases that caught their interest. They wrote them in such a way that would interest fiction readers, and inserted their own voices about what they thought actually happened.
But unfortunately for me, the same could not be said about the cases themselves. Personally, I didn't think the cases picked were anything extraordinary, especially compared to the many outrageous cases we've already heard. But then, in a way, the fact that the novelists still managed to retain my interest in the cases shows just how great they were as writers.
See, the biggest difference between the two is that real cases are not often wrapped neatly like presents with pretty ribbons at the end - we don't always know who actually did it and we don't always get justice even if the cases went to court. The reality is that justice very much depends on how the 'game' is played in the court. Berkeley said it best, "The fact that a life is dependent on the way the game is played, and the winning of it, is lost in the game itself."
So it is very interesting to see how these famous novelists discussed the cases that caught their interest. They wrote them in such a way that would interest fiction readers, and inserted their own voices about what they thought actually happened.
But unfortunately for me, the same could not be said about the cases themselves. Personally, I didn't think the cases picked were anything extraordinary, especially compared to the many outrageous cases we've already heard. But then, in a way, the fact that the novelists still managed to retain my interest in the cases shows just how great they were as writers.