Reviews

Untimely Death by Cyril Hare

cimorene1558's review against another edition

4.0

Good, old-fashioned mystery with a certain amount of creepiness thrown in. Upon revisiting a place he stayed in his youth, Francis Pettigrew, our protagonist, remembers one day stumbling on the body of a man while walking in the woods. When Pettigrew (now an older man) walks in the same woods, hoping to chase away the terror of his childhood memory, he stumbles on a whole new mystery!

fhackland's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

streberkatze's review

mysterious relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I didn’t really warm to the characters. This was a quick and enjoyable read, but something was missing. Maybe it was the characters, or maybe it was the unanswered questions about the first time Pettigrew discovered a body as a child. Since this is volume five in the series, knowing more about the protagonist from previous books might have been helpful. I’ll find out soon. I bought my copy used on eBay and didn’t realize it’d come as part of a package of three Pettigrew mysteries. So I’ll definitely read more of them.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Sexism

mckeanja's review against another edition

lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

3.5

claudia_is_reading's review against another edition

4.0

A nice, smart traditional mystery, with some well-placed red herrings and very interesting characters. I'm really curious now and probably will go back to the rest of the books in the series.

Chris MacDonnell's narration is excellent.