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bhnmt61's review against another edition
5.0
In this book, the second in the Inspector Sloan series, university student Henrietta Jenkins is safely tucked away at school when her mother is killed by a hit-and-run driver. (Stop here if you want to completely avoid spoilers, but the bit I’m revealing happens in the second chapter so it’s not much of a spoiler.)
The autopsy reveals that the woman who was killed never had children, and suddenly everything Henrietta knows about herself and her family history is turned upside down.
It’s a fun read because Inspector Sloan has a very dry sense of humor that is used to excellent purpose- I read one chapter in a quiet public place and had to develop a fake cough to keep from laughing like a loon. And it’s fascinating to see how much attitudes toward adoption, children born outside of wedlock, and alternative families have changed in the 50 years since the book was written. (It turns out not all of those things apply, but Henrietta wrestles with all of them before she finally finds out what really happened.)
As with the previous Inspector Sloan book (The Religious Body), the mystery is not particularly complex, although there are a few unexpected twists. But it was still a thoroughly enjoyable read, and I’m looking forward to the next book in the series.
The autopsy reveals that the woman who was killed never had children, and suddenly everything Henrietta knows about herself and her family history is turned upside down.
It’s a fun read because Inspector Sloan has a very dry sense of humor that is used to excellent purpose- I read one chapter in a quiet public place and had to develop a fake cough to keep from laughing like a loon. And it’s fascinating to see how much attitudes toward adoption, children born outside of wedlock, and alternative families have changed in the 50 years since the book was written. (It turns out not all of those things apply, but Henrietta wrestles with all of them before she finally finds out what really happened.)
As with the previous Inspector Sloan book (The Religious Body), the mystery is not particularly complex, although there are a few unexpected twists. But it was still a thoroughly enjoyable read, and I’m looking forward to the next book in the series.
melissa_who_reads's review against another edition
3.0
Another light but good read. Henrietta's mother is run over in a hit and run accident in their lonely, out-of-the-way village, but the postmortem reveals two surprising things: one, that she was runover twice, making her death murder, and two, that she was never anyone's mother ....
Henrietta goes through a crises of identity, and Detective Inspector CD Sloan has to figure how who murdered the inoffensive woman and why - and who her "daughter" really is turns out to be key.
Henrietta goes through a crises of identity, and Detective Inspector CD Sloan has to figure how who murdered the inoffensive woman and why - and who her "daughter" really is turns out to be key.
amibunk's review against another edition
3.0
I wish I had taken a British Humor class in college, because I'm sure I missed half of the comedy in "Henrietta Who?" As Catherine Aird is not a sophisticated mystery writer, such as Agatha Christie, I'm sure she is more of a humorous author.
d_saff's review against another edition
4.0
Review posted here https://55booksin52weeks.wordpress.com/2016/07/09/review-henrietta-who/
poirot's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Murder, Death, Racism, Death of parent, Misogyny, Gaslighting, and Gun violence
Moderate: Grief
Negative depiction of adoption.cooeeaus's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
jrenee's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
bookwyrm_lark's review
4.0
Henrietta Who? is the second mystery featuring Inspector Sloan and the hapless Constable Crosby, and it remains one of my favorites. Aird piles mystery upon mystery: Was Grace Jenkins’ death truly accidental? If she’s not Henrietta’s mother, how did she come to raise Henrietta on her own? What about Henrietta’s deceased father – why are his war medals not the same as the ones he’s wearing in his portrait? And when Henrietta then discovers that there is no Cyril Edgar Jenkins on the regimental monument – and then sees the man from the portrait in the street – the questions only multiply. Who is the man in the portrait? Is he any relation to Henrietta? The police are on the track of a killer, but Henrietta has her own, more urgent question: Who am I?
It’s up to Sloan to find the answers to all these questions, and he does, with his usual quiet determination. Sloan isn’t a brilliant detective in the mold of a Holmes or Poirot; instead, he is a dedicated policeman. He doesn’t give up, and he’s certainly intelligent enough to put the pieces together, but he does so not through flair but through painstaking detective work: asking questions, checking alibis, looking for motive and opportunity. He’s also a keen observer of both detail and human nature, crucial skills in his line of work.
Crosby is generally of little help, but he does provide low-key comic relief. The joke on the force is that somewhere in the uniform division, there’s a man with the same name who ought to have been promoted to the plainclothes detection squad. Crosby lacks the curiosity required of a detective, but occasionally he comes up with a clue, sometimes without realizing it. He’s less observant than even Watson or Poirot’s friend Hastings, but like them, he serves as a foil for Sloan: someone to whom Sloan can explain things or think out loud, as well as someone to take on the less interesting tasks and errands (searching the records, checking the ground for clues, etc.)
The plot of this mystery is complicated even for Aird, who excels at inventive plots. And she develops it perfectly, uncovering first more questions and then, eventually, the clues that finally bring the mystery to a satisfying conclusion. The pacing is just right, and Sloan’s (and Aird’s) understated humor and occasional dry irony make Henrietta Who? a delight to read. Incidentally, it also holds up remarkably well, but you should remember that it was written and is set in the early 1960s; there are no cell phones and decidedly no Internet, which means (among other things) that records searches take much longer to accomplish.
I first read Henrietta Who? in my twenties, and I’ve been an Aird fan ever since. So I was delighted to see that Open Road is reissuing most of her early books in print and ebook format. Her mysteries are a wonderful blend of police procedural and cozy mystery, low on violence and heavy on character, plot, and above all a challenging intellectual puzzle. She’s easily as good as Christie, and stylistically, her writing is better. If you haven’t made Aird’s acquaintance yet, by all means go read Henrietta Who? or the first Inspector Sloan book, The Religious Body. And enjoy!
Review originally published at The Bookwyrm's Hoard.
FTC disclosure: I received a review copy from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are entirely my own.
It’s up to Sloan to find the answers to all these questions, and he does, with his usual quiet determination. Sloan isn’t a brilliant detective in the mold of a Holmes or Poirot; instead, he is a dedicated policeman. He doesn’t give up, and he’s certainly intelligent enough to put the pieces together, but he does so not through flair but through painstaking detective work: asking questions, checking alibis, looking for motive and opportunity. He’s also a keen observer of both detail and human nature, crucial skills in his line of work.
Crosby is generally of little help, but he does provide low-key comic relief. The joke on the force is that somewhere in the uniform division, there’s a man with the same name who ought to have been promoted to the plainclothes detection squad. Crosby lacks the curiosity required of a detective, but occasionally he comes up with a clue, sometimes without realizing it. He’s less observant than even Watson or Poirot’s friend Hastings, but like them, he serves as a foil for Sloan: someone to whom Sloan can explain things or think out loud, as well as someone to take on the less interesting tasks and errands (searching the records, checking the ground for clues, etc.)
The plot of this mystery is complicated even for Aird, who excels at inventive plots. And she develops it perfectly, uncovering first more questions and then, eventually, the clues that finally bring the mystery to a satisfying conclusion. The pacing is just right, and Sloan’s (and Aird’s) understated humor and occasional dry irony make Henrietta Who? a delight to read. Incidentally, it also holds up remarkably well, but you should remember that it was written and is set in the early 1960s; there are no cell phones and decidedly no Internet, which means (among other things) that records searches take much longer to accomplish.
I first read Henrietta Who? in my twenties, and I’ve been an Aird fan ever since. So I was delighted to see that Open Road is reissuing most of her early books in print and ebook format. Her mysteries are a wonderful blend of police procedural and cozy mystery, low on violence and heavy on character, plot, and above all a challenging intellectual puzzle. She’s easily as good as Christie, and stylistically, her writing is better. If you haven’t made Aird’s acquaintance yet, by all means go read Henrietta Who? or the first Inspector Sloan book, The Religious Body. And enjoy!
Review originally published at The Bookwyrm's Hoard.
FTC disclosure: I received a review copy from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are entirely my own.
vsbedford's review
2.0
I received an eARC from the publishers and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
A solid, if a bit plodding, mystery. The writing is precise and the plot is nicely paced, but one of the early, central surprises felt a bit "So?" for me until I realized this was originally published in the 1960s. I don't think a reader that indulges in more than one or 15 mysteries a year will be overly surprised by the twists this novel takes; I recommend it as an entry into what could be a particularly winning series.
A solid, if a bit plodding, mystery. The writing is precise and the plot is nicely paced, but one of the early, central surprises felt a bit "So?" for me until I realized this was originally published in the 1960s. I don't think a reader that indulges in more than one or 15 mysteries a year will be overly surprised by the twists this novel takes; I recommend it as an entry into what could be a particularly winning series.