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kathlgpa's review
3.0
This was a decent English mystery. Of course it was compared to Christie and Sayers but to me it shouldn’t be. I could tell from the writing it was a modern author but it didn’t seem disingenuous to the historical time it was written. I just didn’t enjoy it as other mysteries possibly because of the focus on spies and politics rather than police and detectives.
The mystery begins in 1947 when a local Earl vanishes during a blizzard. Seven years later his body is finally found and those snow-bound at the castle at the time of the blizzard are all suspects.
Our main protagonist is Hugo Hawksworth who is now staying in the castle in 1952 while working for the service. He investigates the murder to help out the host he is staying with who is one of the suspects since she was there the night the Earl disappeared. I don’t feel like the author wrote any of these characters with enough depth to be really sympathetic.
The mystery begins in 1947 when a local Earl vanishes during a blizzard. Seven years later his body is finally found and those snow-bound at the castle at the time of the blizzard are all suspects.
Our main protagonist is Hugo Hawksworth who is now staying in the castle in 1952 while working for the service. He investigates the murder to help out the host he is staying with who is one of the suspects since she was there the night the Earl disappeared. I don’t feel like the author wrote any of these characters with enough depth to be really sympathetic.
pages_n_puzzles's review against another edition
4.0
Enjoyed the audiobook. Read in October 2016 originally.
Re-read Feb 2020. Liked it even more the second time.
Re-read Feb 2020. Liked it even more the second time.
mikewa14's review against another edition
4.0
http://0651frombrighton.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/a-man-of-some-repute-elizabeth-edmondson.html
catrink's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent whodonit - quite satisfying, Set in post WW2 England and the characters are believable/engaging. I listened to the audio-book version for my work commute and found the narrator engaging as well.
worldofjoel's review against another edition
2.0
It's been a long time since I've read a good old fashion murder mystery. When I first into reading this was one of my favorite genres. I really love the guessing games that come with these types of novels and trying to figure out who committed the murder. A Man of Some Repute takes place right after WWII in a small town outside of London. The murder actually took place nearly seven years after the murder took place and the case is re-opened after the body is found.
Sadly A Man of Some Repute does little to nothing to get you to care about the murder or its characters. I just finished this novel a couple of hours ago and most of the characters names, back stories, and personalities are already dropping out of my consciousness. The author never really spends any time building them up. Nor does the author ever ramp up the tension. This is a very slow moving and often dreadfully boring novel. I never once really cared who committed the murder. And unlike most murder mysteries I never even bothered to try and guess who did it.
The conclusion which for murder mysteries is incredibly important completely misses the landing. The fact that everyone in this novel decides that seven years later is the right time to come forward and bring up any theories or eye witness accounts of what happened is beyond me. It just doesn't make any sense. The characters, the plot, and much of the book is so hard to get behind that I almost didn't finish it. A Man of Some Repute is an incredibly forgettable and really poor attempt to bring back some of the magic of an old-school murder mystery. What I thought would be a great start to summer reading ended up being a giant disappointment.
Sadly A Man of Some Repute does little to nothing to get you to care about the murder or its characters. I just finished this novel a couple of hours ago and most of the characters names, back stories, and personalities are already dropping out of my consciousness. The author never really spends any time building them up. Nor does the author ever ramp up the tension. This is a very slow moving and often dreadfully boring novel. I never once really cared who committed the murder. And unlike most murder mysteries I never even bothered to try and guess who did it.
The conclusion which for murder mysteries is incredibly important completely misses the landing. The fact that everyone in this novel decides that seven years later is the right time to come forward and bring up any theories or eye witness accounts of what happened is beyond me. It just doesn't make any sense. The characters, the plot, and much of the book is so hard to get behind that I almost didn't finish it. A Man of Some Repute is an incredibly forgettable and really poor attempt to bring back some of the magic of an old-school murder mystery. What I thought would be a great start to summer reading ended up being a giant disappointment.
akaasia's review against another edition
4.0
Agatha Christie, meet John Le Carré. This book was most wonderful escapism. Old English castle, Cold War shenanigans and murder with a hint of romance. There are more than a few skeletons lurking about in those dark cupboards...
tobyyy's review
4.0
This was a fairly intriguing post-WWII/early Cold War mystery. I’ll be honest, the mystery itself was not nearly as interesting as the characters and the setting, but that’s okay. I feel like that makes the story more full bodied if there’s more to it than “just” a whodunnit. I definitely want to read more in this series/more by Edmondson. Her writing was quite good.