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ljutavidra's review against another edition
4.0
Kao parodija, savršeno radi posao.
Kao krimić, ne baš. Nemojte da očekujete da ćete uopšte moći da pogodite "who done it", jer je razlog nešto iz detinjstva ubice.
Kao krimić, ne baš. Nemojte da očekujete da ćete uopšte moći da pogodite "who done it", jer je razlog nešto iz detinjstva ubice.
ichirofakename's review against another edition
Paper-thin pastiche of golden-age locked room mystery, with a patina of clashing modern attitudes, esp. gay. Very little there there. Not recommended.
asg41418's review against another edition
3.0
I was entertained by this very Agatha Christie type book. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire book right up to the very end and then it is there that I was let down. The ending was a bit anti-climatic for my taste but overall not a bad book and I would/will probably buy others from this writer.
gavreads's review against another edition
This should be a poor parody. I have a feeling that the title at least is a play on The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, which I didn’t know anything about. I got as far as the bit of Wikipedia which said, ‘It is one of Christie’s best known and most controversial novels, its innovative twist ending having a significant impact on the genre’ and stopped reading. I don’t like spoilers at the best of times.
Despite this gap in my reading this novel definitely has a gentle poke at the Agatha Christie and her take on the genre. If you were to personify Christie as a detective/writer you she would probably come out like Evadne Mount.
On Boxing Day circa 1935 there is a Christmas party at a snowed-in manor on the edge of Dartmoor. In the attic lies the body of Raymond Gentry, gossip columnist and blackmailer, who has seemingly been murdered in a locked and empty attic.
Adair turns the standard formula of investigation and revelation on its head. Through the questioning of retired Chief-Inspector Trubshawe and the several asides and retellings of her own work by Evadne we find out more about not only about Raymond Gentry but all the other guests and their motives for murder.
Adair has a wonderful sense of humour and he plays with conventions and expectations of the genre. You can tells he’s having a lot of fun and brings the reader with him.
As I was saying this should be a poor parody but it’s not. Adair creates a cast of emotive and responsive characters whose lives are touching if a little dated by modern standards. He gives them all a sense of individuality even the servants like Addie and hers ‘squashed little features’.
The who-dunnit element is well played and the range of motives is well portrayed giving several options for the real murder. Though in the end Adair still manages a surprise or two.
I’m looking forward to getting onto the next adventure of Evadne Mout in A Mysterious Affair of Style.
Highly Recommended for lovers of the genre or those that require a little light reading.
Despite this gap in my reading this novel definitely has a gentle poke at the Agatha Christie and her take on the genre. If you were to personify Christie as a detective/writer you she would probably come out like Evadne Mount.
On Boxing Day circa 1935 there is a Christmas party at a snowed-in manor on the edge of Dartmoor. In the attic lies the body of Raymond Gentry, gossip columnist and blackmailer, who has seemingly been murdered in a locked and empty attic.
Adair turns the standard formula of investigation and revelation on its head. Through the questioning of retired Chief-Inspector Trubshawe and the several asides and retellings of her own work by Evadne we find out more about not only about Raymond Gentry but all the other guests and their motives for murder.
Adair has a wonderful sense of humour and he plays with conventions and expectations of the genre. You can tells he’s having a lot of fun and brings the reader with him.
As I was saying this should be a poor parody but it’s not. Adair creates a cast of emotive and responsive characters whose lives are touching if a little dated by modern standards. He gives them all a sense of individuality even the servants like Addie and hers ‘squashed little features’.
The who-dunnit element is well played and the range of motives is well portrayed giving several options for the real murder. Though in the end Adair still manages a surprise or two.
I’m looking forward to getting onto the next adventure of Evadne Mout in A Mysterious Affair of Style.
Highly Recommended for lovers of the genre or those that require a little light reading.
nocto's review against another edition
3.0
Here's another book I thought I'd like but couldn't get going with. I picked it up at the library to read over Christmas - it's an Agatha Christie pastiche sort of a thing, set in a snowed in manor on Boxing Day. I gave it 50 pages to grab me before I took it back to the library on a snowy February weekend. It delivered on about page 45 and turned into another book I wanted to read to the end without putting it down.
It's full of clever word plays and insights into the Christie stereotypes, but mostly I feel like I probably missed a lot of them. I wonder if I'd have been just as happy reading a real Agatha Christie and not worrying about what was going over my head. It was fun alright, but I felt that was mostly because the genre it's taking the mickey out of is fun rather than being fun in its own right.
hk848's review against another edition
3.0
Preferred it to the murder of Roger Ackroyd, which I hated
jcbmathcat's review against another edition
3.0
I bought this because it was a take on Agatha Christie's book, The Murder of Roger Akroyd. It involves a locked room murder, and was an interesting, light read (if a murder mystery can be considered a light read).
bert10's review against another edition
2.0
I was really disappointed in this book. It started off great and I thought I was settling in for a fun little mystery but in the end I don't think the book really worked. There were a lot of interesting characters but I didn't really care about any of them and I couldn't stand the ending. I have the authors sequel to this book but now I don't think I will be reading it. It's a shame as I am always on the lookout for new "classic" detective stories.
tinywriter_'s review against another edition
5.0
This book is wonderful! Gilbert Adair has somehow managed to poke fun at Agatha Christie and the entire whodunit genre, while at the same time admiring them, and creating a fantastic addition to this same variety of novels. The contrived setting and characters are hilarious, quirky and intelligently crafted; his prose is clever and completely enjoyable to read, particularly in the description of his creations and their various peculiarities: with Evadne Mount, for example, wearing 'shoes so sensible, as they say, you felt like consulting them on whether you should cash in your shares in Amalgamated Copper'. Adair even managed to begin a chapter with 'It was a dark and stormy afternoon', without sounding ridiculous or at all as though he's ridiculing Bulwer-Lytton's 'It was a dark and stormy night'. Or, at least, without losing the conviction that that was exactly what he had intended to do. I can't wait to read the following books in the Evadne Mount Trilogy!