Scan barcode
melissa_who_reads's review against another edition
4.0
Enjoyable but ... I came up with the second solution, but not the third or fourth. One knew the first couldn't be right but then there were twists and turns and twists. I didn't love the plot device of telling the story from multiple points of view - the first narrator is an old Scots man, with an emphasis on the Scots. After a while I had to live with the fact that half the words I didn't really know, so if I could just get a sense of what was going on that would be enough. The second narrator I found engaging, and was a bit sad to leave him and go on to the third narrator - who turned out to be engaging in his own way. And the fourth was Appleby himself, finally dragged into the narrative as a minder for two who had run away as the murder happened ... At one point the narration goes off to Australia, and for a bit it turns into a very different adventure story. Death, madness, old families, loyalties, betrayal, love, seduction - it all plays a role in this mystery set in a dark, uncomfortable, rat-infested Scottish castle. Even the rats play a role in the solving of the mystery.
cimorene1558's review against another edition
5.0
One of Innes' best mysteries, but not at all typical, except in that he gets carried away with his own cleverness, which is not unheard of.
majkia's review against another edition
4.0
Genre: Golden Age Mystery
Rating: Convoluted and Intriguing.
Third in the John Appleby mystery series.
As with all the Appleby books, extremely literary and quite convoluted. Quite a few twists and turns I did not see coming.
I do enjoy the series, even if it shows up my poor literary education. ;)
Rating: Convoluted and Intriguing.
Timor Mortis conturbat me.
Third in the John Appleby mystery series.
As with all the Appleby books, extremely literary and quite convoluted. Quite a few twists and turns I did not see coming.
I do enjoy the series, even if it shows up my poor literary education. ;)
bev_reads_mysteries's review against another edition
3.0
Lament for a Maker (1938) would seem--from ratings on Goodreads and in the opinion of such fellow mystery writers as Nicholas Blake and Michael Gilbert--to be considered one of Michael Innes' best books. While I will agree that the mystery itself is quite nicely twisty and surprising, the journey he takes the reader on to get to that brilliant, twisty ending is a rather arduous one. The tale is told through the narratives of various characters--five in all, including his detective John Appleby--and wading through the Scots dialect of the opening narrative nearly put me off entirely. There is also a bit too much extraneous detail about matters that don't really move the story along to suit me.
At the heart of the book is the death of the eccentric recluse Ranald Guthrie the laird of Erchany who falls from the ramparts of his castle on a wild winter night. Suspicion initially rests on the young man who wished to marry Guthrie's niece, but the stories told by each of our narrators prove that there is more to the events of Christmas Eve than meets the eye. Did Guthrie commit suicide in the hopes of ruining the young man? Who was the shadowy figure seen by Miss Guthrie, the American cousin? Why was Guthrie's man Hardcastle looking for the Doctor when Miss Guthrie and Noel Gylby (stranded travelers in a snowstorm) approached Erchany? It will take the narratives of five people involved in the mystery to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. Each time Appleby thinks the picture has been completed, another handful of puzzle pieces are brought to the table.
Worth reading for the mystery itself, but not, to my mind, one of Innes' absolute best. I've rated Death at the President's Lodgings, The Weight of the Evidence, and The Long Farewell each higher. I did enjoy being fooled by the final twist and I found the narrative threads by Noel Gylby and Appleby to be the most entertaining. Overall: ★★★
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
At the heart of the book is the death of the eccentric recluse Ranald Guthrie the laird of Erchany who falls from the ramparts of his castle on a wild winter night. Suspicion initially rests on the young man who wished to marry Guthrie's niece, but the stories told by each of our narrators prove that there is more to the events of Christmas Eve than meets the eye. Did Guthrie commit suicide in the hopes of ruining the young man? Who was the shadowy figure seen by Miss Guthrie, the American cousin? Why was Guthrie's man Hardcastle looking for the Doctor when Miss Guthrie and Noel Gylby (stranded travelers in a snowstorm) approached Erchany? It will take the narratives of five people involved in the mystery to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. Each time Appleby thinks the picture has been completed, another handful of puzzle pieces are brought to the table.
Worth reading for the mystery itself, but not, to my mind, one of Innes' absolute best. I've rated Death at the President's Lodgings, The Weight of the Evidence, and The Long Farewell each higher. I did enjoy being fooled by the final twist and I found the narrative threads by Noel Gylby and Appleby to be the most entertaining. Overall: ★★★
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
tartancrusader's review against another edition
Had to abandon this one. The odd dialect words scattered throughout were too distracting for me, like sand in a sandwich.
More...