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A review by chewdigestbooks
Somebody at the Door by Raymond Postgate
3.0
I've been enjoying all of the re-releases of classic British mysteries by Poisoned Pen Press that I was more than ready to like this one as well. Unfortunately, that was not the case with Somebody at the Door.
Set during WWII, you'd think that the background of the war would make it more interesting. Instead, it led to long side roads that went on so long that I honestly forgot I was reading a murder mystery and when it got back to the actual plot, it was jarring and I found myself looking at the synopsis to refresh my mind on just what in the heck I was reading.
Yes, there were a lot of suspects because Grayling (the victim) was not a well-loved guy, so I can understand why Postgate had to go into, a bit, why each suspect was under suspicion. However, the tangents that this lead to were just too freaking long and other than the Home Guard and the mention of black-out curtains, you'd have hardly known that the war was touching most of the characters. Sure there were mentions and one tangent was a story something that happened before the war yet involving the suspect being helped out of pre-war Nazi Germany because he was, I assume, Jewish. For a blurb that includes, "paints an interesting picture of the everyday life during the war" it seemed like everyday life was going on as usual for most of them. No mention of rationing, no constant fear of bombing in Grayling's town, etc, it was a backdrop and an excuse for tangents, nothing more.
Hey, this is just my opinion and you may like it. I'm never one to be fond of pointless tangents, that's why I usually stay away from literary fiction and grab mysteries.
Set during WWII, you'd think that the background of the war would make it more interesting. Instead, it led to long side roads that went on so long that I honestly forgot I was reading a murder mystery and when it got back to the actual plot, it was jarring and I found myself looking at the synopsis to refresh my mind on just what in the heck I was reading.
Yes, there were a lot of suspects because Grayling (the victim) was not a well-loved guy, so I can understand why Postgate had to go into, a bit, why each suspect was under suspicion. However, the tangents that this lead to were just too freaking long and other than the Home Guard and the mention of black-out curtains, you'd have hardly known that the war was touching most of the characters. Sure there were mentions and one tangent was a story something that happened before the war yet involving the suspect being helped out of pre-war Nazi Germany because he was, I assume, Jewish. For a blurb that includes, "paints an interesting picture of the everyday life during the war" it seemed like everyday life was going on as usual for most of them. No mention of rationing, no constant fear of bombing in Grayling's town, etc, it was a backdrop and an excuse for tangents, nothing more.
Hey, this is just my opinion and you may like it. I'm never one to be fond of pointless tangents, that's why I usually stay away from literary fiction and grab mysteries.