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caitcoy's review against another edition
4.0
The Album is a blend of classic American mystery and social satire set in a small, wealthy suburb where an irritable and sickly widow is murdered in broad daylight and one of her younger neighbors has to track down the killer. The task is made more complicated by the paranoia and privacy demanded by the families in the suburb, who all have secrets they don't want brought to light.
I ended up picking this up after getting it in a book trade and it was such an interesting blend of classic whodunnit and Jane Austen's sly social commentary. It's definitely on the slow-paced side and the first half is a slow reveal of the various personalities and motivations in the neighborhood before events really start accelerating in the second half.
I really liked the social commentary and dry humor, particularly regarding the lives of women in the neighborhood. The story is set in the 1930's but the families are so reclusive and wealthy that they seem out of touch and more a part of the 19th century than the 20th. So a lot of the commentary is on how trapped some of the people are in this insular neighborhood. There's also definitely some commentary of its time here, with casual racism towards some of the non-white characters in the story. Not unusual for one of these mysteries but just know going in.
I didn't mind the slow build to the second half and the acceleration in the second half definitely kept me entertained all the way up to the conclusion. I hadn't heard of Rinehart before picking this one up but I would definitely add her to my list with Agatha Christie of Golden Age mystery authors I'd like to read more from.
I ended up picking this up after getting it in a book trade and it was such an interesting blend of classic whodunnit and Jane Austen's sly social commentary. It's definitely on the slow-paced side and the first half is a slow reveal of the various personalities and motivations in the neighborhood before events really start accelerating in the second half.
I really liked the social commentary and dry humor, particularly regarding the lives of women in the neighborhood. The story is set in the 1930's but the families are so reclusive and wealthy that they seem out of touch and more a part of the 19th century than the 20th. So a lot of the commentary is on how trapped some of the people are in this insular neighborhood. There's also definitely some commentary of its time here, with casual racism towards some of the non-white characters in the story. Not unusual for one of these mysteries but just know going in.
I didn't mind the slow build to the second half and the acceleration in the second half definitely kept me entertained all the way up to the conclusion. I hadn't heard of Rinehart before picking this one up but I would definitely add her to my list with Agatha Christie of Golden Age mystery authors I'd like to read more from.
marilynsaul's review against another edition
2.0
My favorite review of this book starts "At least I think I read it. I had no idea what was going on half the time." I first read it back in 2019 and had given it two stars. I pulled it from the shelf again, and said "that can't be right - I'd better re-read it; afterall, it's Mary Roberts Rinehart!!" Well, it was worse than I thought and I, without hesitation, demote it to one star.
The plot was passable, though even the author had to explain a couple of times what had happened. The writing was, IMO, unforgiveable for a MRR book. Although I liked the tiny bit of wisdom of the hazards of living in a "gated" closely-knit and rather incestuous community, that only took up two paragraphs of this tedious book. There was a lot of to-and-fro ing, along with "if I'd only known[s]...". The rampant speculation by the narrator was irritating and not helpful. Then there were the "Talbots" and the "Daltons", two names so similar that I had to keep checking the "cute" portraiture at the beginning to try to place them. THEN, Lizzie isn't even mentioned (I don't think - I'm not about to scour 300+ pages trying to find her) until the last forty pages. Another irritating writing flaw was mentioned two or three characters in one paragraph, followed by "Then she...." She? To which character are you referring??? I spent way too much time re-reading the previous pages to try to figure out where I was and who was speaking.
So, "At least I think I read it. I had no idea what was going on half the time."
The plot was passable, though even the author had to explain a couple of times what had happened. The writing was, IMO, unforgiveable for a MRR book. Although I liked the tiny bit of wisdom of the hazards of living in a "gated" closely-knit and rather incestuous community, that only took up two paragraphs of this tedious book. There was a lot of to-and-fro ing, along with "if I'd only known[s]...". The rampant speculation by the narrator was irritating and not helpful. Then there were the "Talbots" and the "Daltons", two names so similar that I had to keep checking the "cute" portraiture at the beginning to try to place them. THEN, Lizzie isn't even mentioned (I don't think - I'm not about to scour 300+ pages trying to find her) until the last forty pages. Another irritating writing flaw was mentioned two or three characters in one paragraph, followed by "Then she...." She? To which character are you referring??? I spent way too much time re-reading the previous pages to try to figure out where I was and who was speaking.
So, "At least I think I read it. I had no idea what was going on half the time."
samschnell19's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I loved the idea of the plot of this book but I genuinely felt it could have beeN MUCH shorter. There was so much time spent going back over clues and even more time spent with statements like “but I didn’t know that yet” or “but that wouldn’t come to light until much later”. So much of it just felt like a waste of time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs
quietjenn's review against another edition
3.0
A bit on the long side - and twists and turns just kept coming, probably long after they should've - but still quite enjoyable in the way that I've come to expect from Rinehart's books.
marystevens's review against another edition
4.0
Puzzle mystery. 1920’s. Upper middle class enclave in a small town or suburb.
tmelting3's review against another edition
4.0
This was a good mystery with lots of twists and turns. I liked the writing style. The narrator was re-telling the events of the week and when different pieces of information were learned. It jumped around a lot and there was a lot of foreshadowing which got you hooked. I would definitely read another book by this author.
ssejig's review against another edition
3.0
Set during prohibition, the narrator is a twenty-seven-year-old spinster. While the world around her is changing rapidly, the neighborhood she lives in is set in their ways, still clinging to a world that was all but gone. Every day, every week is exactly the same. Which is what makes the murder of one of the residents all the more astonishing. As are the secrets (like the fact that the victim was hording gold) all the more interesting.
The internal dialogue in Louisa's (Lou, the narrator) mind meant that we as readers really get to know her, and to see her grow.
Definitely a product of its time with some language that would be considered very un-PC today.
The internal dialogue in Louisa's (Lou, the narrator) mind meant that we as readers really get to know her, and to see her grow.
Definitely a product of its time with some language that would be considered very un-PC today.
merylsalerno's review against another edition
2.0
... I was not a fan of the writing style, and I honestly still have no idea what ultimately happened. I just did not like this and was, in the end, just reading it to finish it.
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