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bev_reads_mysteries's review
4.0
The Man in the Moonlight is one of my favorite subgenres in mysteries--the academic mystery. It is set during World War II and features the campus of Yorkville University. Assistant Chief Inspector Patrick Foyle has been visiting the campus in anticipation of the possibility of sending his son there for college. As he's preparing to leave the grounds, he picks up a paper flying in the wind only to read:
I take pleasure in informing you that you have been chosen as murderer for Group No. 1. Please follow these instructions with as great exactness as possible.
The paper goes on to detail a rendezvous at Southerland Hall later that night. Foyle is ready to put it down as an undergraduate rag or some sort of joke. But he is curious and makes his way to the building mentioned. On the way there he hears a pistol shot. Perhaps it's not a gag and someone started proceedings a bit early. But he finds only Professor Raymond Prickett running a psychological experiment on babies' reactions to loud, unexpected noises. [Odd as it may seem, babies cry when exposed to loud, unexpected noises. I could have saved him the trouble of experimentation.]
There are some hours to go before the rendezvous mentioned in the instructions and Foyle decides to go have dinner and then return to campus and see what exactly is up. During dinner, he overhears another member for the Yorkville faculty, Professor Julian Salt, having an unsatisfactory conversation with his estranged wife. His detective instincts can't help but be interested in the melodrama, but his mind is on Southerland Hall...and more particularly, the laboratory of Dr. Franz Konradi, a biochemist who is a refugee from the Nazi invasions across Europe. Foyle had met Konradi briefly, asked him some questions about the situation and was told that no matter what happened, if Konradi was found killed it would not be suicide...no matter how things looked
He goes back to campus where a young woman tries to dissuade him from going to Southerland Hall. But he's determined and is just in time to watch one of the psychology graduate students (Ian Halsey) perform some very odd actions in a darkened room--lighting a candle, reading from a book, drinking wine, and typing steadily. This goes on for several minutes until a shot rings out. The lights won't come on and the doors and windows are all locked (someone locked the door behind Halsey and Foyle). While they're fumbling in the dark, the murder breaks through a window in the janitor's room (the only breakable window in the place). When they manage to get the lights on, they find Dr. Konradi shot through the roof of the mouth with all the hallmarks of a standard suicide, barring a suicide note. But Foyle remembers what Konradi told him and calls in Dr. Basil Willing, a psychological consultant for the police because as Foyle tells him, it's "right down your alley, doc!" It is indeed, and Dr. Willing will have several very interesting psychological clues to follow up before they'll be able to identify the correct culprit.
First of all, I have to say how very grateful I am to the late Noah Stewart for this lovely Dell mapback copy. He sent it to me as part of one of our Golden Age group Secret Santa gift exchanges. I am only sorry that I did not read it sooner so I could have discussed it with him before he was taken from us much too soon. He knew of my great love for the academic mystery and was thoughtful enough to include this delightful little book in my box of goodies.
It is, in addition to being a fine mystery, a very good look at the U.S. (and the world) at the time of second world war. We get good descriptions of the situation for refugees, prisoners of war, and the tricky state of trade. We see how precarious fortunes were when they depended on goods needed for the war--especially if any changes in materials might be in the offing. The mystery itself is well-plotted and McCloy pulled the wool over my eyes quite nicely. A very good read.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting portions of review. Thanks.
I take pleasure in informing you that you have been chosen as murderer for Group No. 1. Please follow these instructions with as great exactness as possible.
The paper goes on to detail a rendezvous at Southerland Hall later that night. Foyle is ready to put it down as an undergraduate rag or some sort of joke. But he is curious and makes his way to the building mentioned. On the way there he hears a pistol shot. Perhaps it's not a gag and someone started proceedings a bit early. But he finds only Professor Raymond Prickett running a psychological experiment on babies' reactions to loud, unexpected noises. [Odd as it may seem, babies cry when exposed to loud, unexpected noises. I could have saved him the trouble of experimentation.]
There are some hours to go before the rendezvous mentioned in the instructions and Foyle decides to go have dinner and then return to campus and see what exactly is up. During dinner, he overhears another member for the Yorkville faculty, Professor Julian Salt, having an unsatisfactory conversation with his estranged wife. His detective instincts can't help but be interested in the melodrama, but his mind is on Southerland Hall...and more particularly, the laboratory of Dr. Franz Konradi, a biochemist who is a refugee from the Nazi invasions across Europe. Foyle had met Konradi briefly, asked him some questions about the situation and was told that no matter what happened, if Konradi was found killed it would not be suicide...no matter how things looked
He goes back to campus where a young woman tries to dissuade him from going to Southerland Hall. But he's determined and is just in time to watch one of the psychology graduate students (Ian Halsey) perform some very odd actions in a darkened room--lighting a candle, reading from a book, drinking wine, and typing steadily. This goes on for several minutes until a shot rings out. The lights won't come on and the doors and windows are all locked (someone locked the door behind Halsey and Foyle). While they're fumbling in the dark, the murder breaks through a window in the janitor's room (the only breakable window in the place). When they manage to get the lights on, they find Dr. Konradi shot through the roof of the mouth with all the hallmarks of a standard suicide, barring a suicide note. But Foyle remembers what Konradi told him and calls in Dr. Basil Willing, a psychological consultant for the police because as Foyle tells him, it's "right down your alley, doc!" It is indeed, and Dr. Willing will have several very interesting psychological clues to follow up before they'll be able to identify the correct culprit.
First of all, I have to say how very grateful I am to the late Noah Stewart for this lovely Dell mapback copy. He sent it to me as part of one of our Golden Age group Secret Santa gift exchanges. I am only sorry that I did not read it sooner so I could have discussed it with him before he was taken from us much too soon. He knew of my great love for the academic mystery and was thoughtful enough to include this delightful little book in my box of goodies.
It is, in addition to being a fine mystery, a very good look at the U.S. (and the world) at the time of second world war. We get good descriptions of the situation for refugees, prisoners of war, and the tricky state of trade. We see how precarious fortunes were when they depended on goods needed for the war--especially if any changes in materials might be in the offing. The mystery itself is well-plotted and McCloy pulled the wool over my eyes quite nicely. A very good read.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting portions of review. Thanks.
annarella's review
5.0
It's the second book i read by Helen McCloy and loved it.
She was a talented writer and I'm happy her novels are being reprinted as they are excellent mysteries.
This is one is complex and gripping. The author delivers a great mystery and the plot kept me guessing.
The character development and the atmosphere are very good.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
She was a talented writer and I'm happy her novels are being reprinted as they are excellent mysteries.
This is one is complex and gripping. The author delivers a great mystery and the plot kept me guessing.
The character development and the atmosphere are very good.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
anjana's review
4.0
I must say that I love these covers! They are so atmospheric and contain these tiny clues to the content which actually make a lot more sense after the reading. This is a new author that I saw some pretty good reviews of towards the end of the year. I am always willing to try something new in these reprints of older lesser-known classic mysteries. I must say my foray with these was so good that I read both back-to-backs in a long almost single sitting today. I must say my foray with these was so good that I read both back-to-back in a long almost single sitting today.
In this second instalment, we are fully immersed into the convoluted setup in progress on a University campus before Dr Basil Winning comes into the scene. The policeman introduced in the previous book, Chief Inspector Foyle is on campus and intercepts a curious note. This leads him to investigate further, and he ends up having inside information about the shenanigans that the psych department was involved in. Things turn deadly (as Foyle expects) but with unexpected results. People change their statements as often as they change the degree to which they are willing to cooperate in the investigation. There are many discussions about how people might think given their status in life and their life experiences, this takes up a lot of the conversations (especially given the fact that it is our protagonist's speciality). I enjoyed the constant changes that were thrown entirely believably at the reader whenever new information was discovered. I did not see the ending coming given the political/personal machinations involved in the tale's entirety.
I liked all the people we are supposed to like and even sniggered at the diversion caused by the experiments one professor was willing to put his own children through (I was laughing at the man's pomposity and not the fear the poor child must have been labouring under).
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but my review is entirely based on my own reading experience.
In this second instalment, we are fully immersed into the convoluted setup in progress on a University campus before Dr Basil Winning comes into the scene. The policeman introduced in the previous book, Chief Inspector Foyle is on campus and intercepts a curious note. This leads him to investigate further, and he ends up having inside information about the shenanigans that the psych department was involved in. Things turn deadly (as Foyle expects) but with unexpected results. People change their statements as often as they change the degree to which they are willing to cooperate in the investigation. There are many discussions about how people might think given their status in life and their life experiences, this takes up a lot of the conversations (especially given the fact that it is our protagonist's speciality). I enjoyed the constant changes that were thrown entirely believably at the reader whenever new information was discovered. I did not see the ending coming given the political/personal machinations involved in the tale's entirety.
I liked all the people we are supposed to like and even sniggered at the diversion caused by the experiments one professor was willing to put his own children through (I was laughing at the man's pomposity and not the fear the poor child must have been labouring under).
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but my review is entirely based on my own reading experience.
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