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relf's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
I had high hopes for this 1946 mystery set in Oxford, and it started off amusingly, in an arch tone with a whiff of the Wodehouse about it. The plot was pleasantly ridiculous--our protagonist Cadogan happens on a dead body in a flat above a toyshop, but both body and toyshop have disappeared by the next morning--and I was hoping for an elegantly simple and entertaining solution. Cadogan's colorful friend Gervase Fen, a professor of English, leads the amateur investigation. But the plot got too complicated, I found the resolution unsatisfying, and the archness wore on me--as did the author's 1946 attitude toward female characters.
Graphic: Fatphobia and Sexism
Moderate: Animal death and Gun violence
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