maplessence's review against another edition
3.0
3.5★
I loved Ethel Lina White's [b:The Lady Vanishes|1024939|The Lady Vanishes|Ethel Lina White|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1180313825l/1024939._SY75_.jpg|1011180] but only liked this book, & find it hard to believe that there was only four years difference between the publishing dates, as I remember The Lady Vanishes as being a far more accomplished book.
What I did like was the sense of place White gave with her description of village life. The village did sound too good to be true - which of course it was! Ignatious Brown was an interesting in character detective & I'm trying to allow for the fact that this book was first published in 1932 so was groundbreaking for it's time.
But I didn't like the way that a character, who appeared important when she was introduced, completely disappeared. & Fear is given a physical (& fanciful appearance) Didn't work for me & I found the resolution both unsatisfying and over the top.
I have another couple of White books on my Kindle & I liked this book well enough that I will read them in the future.
https://wordpress.com/view/carolshessonovel.wordpress.com
I loved Ethel Lina White's [b:The Lady Vanishes|1024939|The Lady Vanishes|Ethel Lina White|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1180313825l/1024939._SY75_.jpg|1011180] but only liked this book, & find it hard to believe that there was only four years difference between the publishing dates, as I remember The Lady Vanishes as being a far more accomplished book.
What I did like was the sense of place White gave with her description of village life. The village did sound too good to be true - which of course it was! Ignatious Brown was an interesting in character detective & I'm trying to allow for the fact that this book was first published in 1932 so was groundbreaking for it's time.
But I didn't like the way that a character, who appeared important when she was introduced, completely disappeared. & Fear is given a physical (& fanciful appearance) Didn't work for me & I found the resolution both unsatisfying and over the top.
I have another couple of White books on my Kindle & I liked this book well enough that I will read them in the future.
https://wordpress.com/view/carolshessonovel.wordpress.com
ashleylm's review against another edition
5.0
Really rather marvellous. The writing itself felt fresh and non-dated, despite being 90 years old. I was absolutely delighted that, depending on intrepretation, this is not actually a murder mystery, it's an anonymous-letter mystery. I've never understand why 99.9% of mystery novels are solving murder mysteries, when other types of mysteries might be just as (or more) interesting, so this was a very pleasant change.
The author played fair, all the clues and knowledge given to the detective were also given to us. Despite a vast cast, I could tell all the characters apart (so often writers fail to worry about this, giving me names and no more, really), and they were a fun, diverse bunch, including some character types not before encountered--nothing remotely resembling a stock character.
Very recommended! But a bit of a page-turner, I've had two sleepless nights in a row.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve!
The author played fair, all the clues and knowledge given to the detective were also given to us. Despite a vast cast, I could tell all the characters apart (so often writers fail to worry about this, giving me names and no more, really), and they were a fun, diverse bunch, including some character types not before encountered--nothing remotely resembling a stock character.
Very recommended! But a bit of a page-turner, I've had two sleepless nights in a row.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve!
suzig's review against another edition
3.0
This is the first book I've read by Ethel Lina White and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It's not a traditional murder mystery, but rather a poison pen mystery.
I found the characters engaging, especially Joan and Mrs Corner. Even if the detective himself fell a bit flat and was more of just a vehicle for figuring things out. And the way White anthropomorphizes Fear is interesting, not something I've seen done in another Golden Age book. Some of the accusations in the poison pen letters seem quite thin and inconsequential to a modern reader, although this may be a way of highlighting the simple conventionality of the village.
There were a few things however than dropped this down from a possible 4 stars.
Mainly that one of the most interesting characters is killed of fairly early in the book. It's a recurring pattern in Golden Age murder mysteries that when a woman is independent and interesting and won't bow to convention, she gets knocked off. Which really frustrates me. I often empathize and identify with these characters and it feels like being removed from the story myself.
Also, there are a pair of suicides in the book that I was uncomfortable with that also lowered the book for me. I find the attitude towards suicide in Golden Age books uncomfortable in general.
I think I will read more by White in the future.
Content Notes: suicide
I found the characters engaging, especially Joan and Mrs Corner. Even if the detective himself fell a bit flat and was more of just a vehicle for figuring things out. And the way White anthropomorphizes Fear is interesting, not something I've seen done in another Golden Age book. Some of the accusations in the poison pen letters seem quite thin and inconsequential to a modern reader, although this may be a way of highlighting the simple conventionality of the village.
There were a few things however than dropped this down from a possible 4 stars.
Mainly that one of the most interesting characters is killed of fairly early in the book. It's a recurring pattern in Golden Age murder mysteries that when a woman is independent and interesting and won't bow to convention, she gets knocked off. Which really frustrates me. I often empathize and identify with these characters and it feels like being removed from the story myself.
Also, there are a pair of suicides in the book that I was uncomfortable with that also lowered the book for me. I find the attitude towards suicide in Golden Age books uncomfortable in general.
I think I will read more by White in the future.
Content Notes: suicide
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