Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide by Rupert Holmes

3 reviews

angorarabbit's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

TLDR: Very good Golden Age Style Mystery with a few twists. 
 
I was pleasantly surprised by this mystery novel. The blurb promises entertainment which is delivered mostly in puns in the first half of the book. Then Mr Holmes gets to work with an intricately plotted how-they done-it novel. 
 
The forward is a bit tiresome, but necessary to understanding the setting. The rest of the narrative is an omnipresent narrator and a mix of journal entries from the main character to his patron, reports, and letters. The later being indicated by chapter headings. The style is down to earth with enough description to fill in the blanks but not be flowery. The action is pretty easy to follow and main characters are easy to differentiate. 
 
The characterisation was okay, the minor characters suffered in particular. Main characters were somewhat stereotyped though they acted consistent with their characters throughout the novel. The first part of the novel was rather under peopled though filling a school like it should be is always tricky for both the writer and the reader. 
 
In true Golden Age fashion all the would be deletees were nasty humans. I thought two of them deserved an Orient Express experience to tell the truth. I anticipate there were after the funeral parties. The setting is 1950’s America so at least the author didn’t have to worry about the modern banes of deleters existence DNA and mobile phones. Though one deletion method was old fashioned, the other two were quite novel. 
 
The postscript does make me wonder if the punishment will fit the crime.
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calicat42's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book isn’t as dark and menacing as I thought it would be! It actually turned out to be quite an insightful, sometimes comical and sometimes sad, commentary on humans and our institutions. Yes, the apparent commentary is provided through a darker narrative, but I ended up having so many philosophical and moral conversations as I moved through each characters’ stories. I think the use of a darker and over-the-top narrative worked so perfectly! In no way does this book justify such violence (nor should it), but I do think it starts great conversations and it was a fun read. 
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chris_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Very good whimsical fun. The narration was cheeky and full of deadly euphemisms. The 1950s academic setting really worked here. The characters were surprisingly sympathetic given their field of study. The murders and methods were creative and complex. And I especially loved the audiobook performance. 
There was one aspect that kind of bothered me: That being a side character using a cross-dresser, though fictitious, as the scapegoat for their plans. While it's certainly a unique means of execution, I don't like the implications. Though I don't think we're meant to particularly like this character or agree with her, so I can't speak to any underlying bias of the author. 
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