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A review by ashleylm
Speedy Death by Gladys Mitchell
3.0
This is a very strange book. I'm not sure what to make of it.
First, the murder victim has a secret--that's fine, they often do. But it's a big secret. And kind of a weird secret. And the book never resolves it. Once the characters learn about it, they mostly forget about it. Time and again characters say some variation of "Oh, that's right, [BIG SECRET], hmm." Nothing comes of it, we never know why the need for the secret arose, it just doesn't happen.
Ibsen would be horrified!
There are many murders, attempts at murders, attempts to get people to attempt more murders, etc., and the characters also seem spectacularly unphased by all this. They're not snowed in, trapped on a boat, etc., there's absolutely no reason for them to stay at this country house and potentially be picked off one after the other, but stay they do.
I enjoyed the characterization of Mrs. Bradley (which was why I picked up the book in the first place, she'd sounded interesting elsewhere), but whoa, there are some serious problems here.
Bumped up from 2.5 to to 3 stars because it's very old and may have seemed more sensible when written.
(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).
First, the murder victim has a secret--that's fine, they often do. But it's a big secret. And kind of a weird secret. And the book never resolves it. Once the characters learn about it, they mostly forget about it. Time and again characters say some variation of "Oh, that's right, [BIG SECRET], hmm." Nothing comes of it, we never know why the need for the secret arose, it just doesn't happen.
Ibsen would be horrified!
There are many murders, attempts at murders, attempts to get people to attempt more murders, etc., and the characters also seem spectacularly unphased by all this. They're not snowed in, trapped on a boat, etc., there's absolutely no reason for them to stay at this country house and potentially be picked off one after the other, but stay they do.
I enjoyed the characterization of Mrs. Bradley (which was why I picked up the book in the first place, she'd sounded interesting elsewhere), but whoa, there are some serious problems here.
Bumped up from 2.5 to to 3 stars because it's very old and may have seemed more sensible when written.
(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).