Tag: mystery

Review: Gone Girl

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Gone Girl by Gillian FlynnGillian Flynn, Gone Girl

Nick and Amy Dunne are attractive thirty-somethings living in a large house in Missouri, right by the Mississippi River. From the outside, they seem to have a charmed life, but in fact they’ve been having increasingly severe marital problems. Then, on their fifth wedding anniversary, Amy goes missing. Suspicion naturally falls on Nick, since in these situations it’s usually the husband who is guilty. Did Nick kill Amy, and if not, what happened to her? As the narrative slowly unfolds, the truth becomes ever more complex and more elusive.

This is the kind of book that’s really hard to discuss without major spoilers, but I’ll do my best not to give anything away! For starters, this is not my usual genre; I hardly ever read thrillers, but this one is so popular that I decided to see what all the fuss was about. Overall I think I enjoyed the book, or at any rate I found it compelling. I got sucked into the story and had to keep turning the pages to find out what would happen next. Neither Nick nor Amy is entirely likable, and they both get more unpleasant as the book goes on. But it was fun to chase all the plot twists and try to stay one step ahead of the narrators. (Nick and Amy take turns narrating, him from the time of the disappearance and her from diary entries written beforehand.) I didn’t like the ending, though obviously I can’t be more specific. Still, this is a good read for what it is, and I’d recommend it for planes or beaches (but definitely not on your honeymoon!).

Review: The Westing Game

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Ellen Raskin, The Westing Game

At the beginning of this novel, 16 people of all ages and walks of life are invited to live in a fancy new apartment building overlooking Lake Michigan. They all accept due to the luxurious accommodations and affordable rent, but it soon becomes apparent that they have been gathered for a purpose. Old Samuel Westing, who founded the town and employed many of its citizens, has just died. When the apartment dwellers are summoned to the reading of the will under the guise of being his heirs, they are shocked to hear that Mr. Westing has accused one of them of being his murderer. He proposes a game to the 16 heirs: The person who discovers Mr. Westing’s killer will inherit his vast fortune.

This is one of those books that I somehow missed in my childhood, and I decided to pick it up for the read-a-thon since I assumed it would be a fairly effortless read. But while I enjoyed the book a lot, it was definitely more complex than I thought it would be! There are a lot of characters to keep track of, which was hard at first, but they each had such distinctive qualities that I was soon able to tell who was who. The game itself was delightful to puzzle through, and I’ll admit that I didn’t see many of the twists coming! I think this would be a great read for bright children, especially those who love mysteries — but it can definitely be enjoyed by adults as well!

Review: The Maltese Falcon

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The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell HammettDashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

Sam Spade is a private investigator operating in the seedy underbelly of early 20th-century San Francisco. His clients are usually shady types who don’t want to get mixed up with the police, so he knows right away that the beautiful Miss Wonderly, who comes into his office with a sob story about a missing sister, is trouble. Spade agrees to take the case, and his partner Archer shadows the girl in hopes of discovering more about her. When Archer ends up dead shortly thereafter, Spade must investigate Miss Wonderly (whose real name is Brigid O’Shaughnessy) and the various shady characters with whom she is involved. But the case becomes even more dangerous than he imagined when he discovers a group of criminals on the trail of a priceless historical artifact known as the Maltese falcon.

I hate to say this about such a well-loved classic mystery, but I wasn’t a huge fan of this book. The writing style didn’t do anything for me, and the plot was only so-so. Now, I’m sure it was wildly creative at the time, as I believe Hammett was one of the pioneers of the noir genre. But in this day and age, the twists are all too familiar. I am glad I read the book, since it’s an influential part of pop culture, but it’s not something that I’d read again just for fun. I am curious to see the movie, though; I predict that this is one of those rare cases where the movie is better than the book! All in all, while I quite liked The Thin Man, this book was just not for me.

Review: The Unfinished Clue

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Georgette Heyer, The Unfinished Clue

This novel begins, as so many British cozy mysteries do, with an awkward weekend at an English country house. Sir Arthur Billington-Smith is a tyrannical husband and father with a terrible temper; therefore, he is less than thrilled when several unexpected guests arrive for the weekend. All the guests dislike Sir Arthur, but since he also happens to be quite wealthy, they are hoping to manipulate him into giving them money. Naturally, Sir Arthur is murdered during the course of the house party, and Inspector Harding of Scotland Yard is called in to investigate. He soon finds that nearly everyone has a motive, but there is a dismaying lack of evidence that any one suspect committed the crime.

I absolutely love Georgette Heyer! I’ve read all her Regency-era romances and am now making my way through her mysteries. As a mystery, I have to say that this book is fairly average. Many of the characters seem two-dimensional and could be found in any number of mysteries from this period: the long-suffering wife, the lively young sister-in-law, the disappointing son, the unworldly vicar, and the sharp-tongued vicar’s wife. Still, Georgette Heyer’s snappy dialogue and characteristic hint of romance made this a fun read for me. I even appreciated the meticulous nature of Inspector Harding’s investigation; I never found myself thinking that the police were jumping to conclusions or overlooking evidence, they way they so often seem to do in mystery novels. All in all, if you’re a fan of Golden Age mysteries, I definitely recommend Heyer’s books.

Review: Blotto, Twinks and the Ex-King’s Daughter

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Simon Brett, Blotto, Twinks and the Ex-King’s Daughter

This send-up of the Golden Age mystery stars the amiable but incredibly dense Blotto and his sister Twinks, who is both staggeringly beautiful and extremely intelligent. The story begins with the discovery of a body in the library (of course), which happens to belong to a visiting dignitary from Mitteleuropia. The exiled King Sigismund and his retinue are staying at Blotto and Twinks’ home due to a recent coup in Mitteleuropia by the ex-king’s traitorous brother. But the body in the library turns out to be the least of Blotto and Twinks’ worries when they stumble upon a plot to kidnap the ex-king’s daughter. Now they must save the ex-princess, infiltrate the Mitteleuropian court, and restore King Sigismund to his rightful place on the throne.

As with most parodies, enjoyment of the humor will vary widely from reader to reader; personally, I liked it and thought it worked well. The plot is, of course, ridiculous and wildly improbable, but that’s part of the fun. The characters are also fairly two-dimensional; even Blotto, the protagonist (of sorts), doesn’t really have any depth. But again, in my view, that’s not the point of the book. Rather, this novel is a playful homage to the classic British cozy, with more than a few nods to P.G. Wodehouse thrown in. Anyone who likes the Golden Age of mysteries would probably find a lot to enjoy and appreciate in this novel. That said, the jokes do get a bit repetitive, and they’re also not particularly subtle, so I can understand why some people might find the whole thing irritating rather than amusing. In my opinion, though, the book succeeds in being a fun, silly read, and I’ll most likely continue with the series.