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bookishlybeauty's review against another edition
challenging
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
4.0
judyward's review against another edition
3.0
Unfortunately, I'm still stuck in the classic mystery genre. I was trying to free myself from this addiction when I chanced upon this book of short stories first published in 1909. Ellery Queen called The Old Man in the Corner the "first and greatest armchair detectives" and upon reading that I was hooked. In this series of stories, an odd old man in a tea shop talks to Polly Burton, a young reporter, about cold case crimes while methodically tying and untying intricate knots in a piece of string. Relying on logic to unravel unsolved crimes, the old man always seems to be on the side of the criminal. And the cause for that becomes clear in the last story. A fun read.
beth306's review against another edition
1.0
I shelved this one 3 stories in, it's so dull and slow! The plots are already a bit repetitive and you can't get to know the characters so you cannot empathise with them.
exurbanis's review against another edition
5.0
Agatha Christie’s 1929 Partners in Crime is a series of short stories in which Tommy & Tuppence Beresford imitate the detecting styles of the popular detectives of the day. Orczy’s Old Man in the Corner has his place in their playacting.
Published in 1909, this collection of short stories, initially serialized, feature the nameless man in the corner who reveals to intrepid reporter Polly Burton his solution to several unsolved crimes in London and other cities such as Dublin, Liverpool etc. Many of the crimes are elementary but still clever, and given that this genre was still cutting its teeth, Orczy shines. In addition to thinking of unsolved crimes, she must always have ones in which the fact that they are unsolved , or wrongly solved, didn’t mean the false conviction of an innocent person.
Thanks to Jane at Fleur Fisher for her review that prompted me to get the library to dig this out of storage for me.
Read this if: you’re fairly new to mystery stories and want an introduction to the genre; you’re a young teen keen to solve conundrums; or you’re a keen admirer of mysteries and want to explore a classic of the genre. 4½ stars
Published in 1909, this collection of short stories, initially serialized, feature the nameless man in the corner who reveals to intrepid reporter Polly Burton his solution to several unsolved crimes in London and other cities such as Dublin, Liverpool etc. Many of the crimes are elementary but still clever, and given that this genre was still cutting its teeth, Orczy shines. In addition to thinking of unsolved crimes, she must always have ones in which the fact that they are unsolved , or wrongly solved, didn’t mean the false conviction of an innocent person.
Thanks to Jane at Fleur Fisher for her review that prompted me to get the library to dig this out of storage for me.
Read this if: you’re fairly new to mystery stories and want an introduction to the genre; you’re a young teen keen to solve conundrums; or you’re a keen admirer of mysteries and want to explore a classic of the genre. 4½ stars
divinebruyere's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
vesper1931's review
4.0
While lunching at the A.B.C. Shop, an old man sitting in the corner strikes up a conversation with reporter Polly Burton. Over time he narrates twelve mysteries which have confounded the police and offers his solutions.
An enjoyable, varied selection of short stories, each one easily read in fifteen minutes which were first published in 1908.
A NetGalley Book
An enjoyable, varied selection of short stories, each one easily read in fifteen minutes which were first published in 1908.
A NetGalley Book
whimsicalmeerkat's review
3.0
This was highly enjoyable and the ending is delightful! Not the most brilliant of mysteries by far, in some ways merely average, but fun.
lnatal's review
3.0
A collection of mystery short-stories written by Baroness Emmuska Orczy. I would say that she is not a master writter of this genre of book, I still prefer the Scarlet Pimpirnel series.
littlebearreading's review
3.0
I'm going to go with a three star rating for this one. It was indeed 'good', but I wouldn't go so far as very good or great. The Baroness wrote these stories after the success of Sherlock Holmes and you can tell as it fills a similar void, without being just simply reading the same stories all over again. And maybe that's the problem, because I was also listening to the complete collection of Sherlock Holmes in the same chunk of time. It might just have been too similar at the same time?
But while it does, as I said, fill the same void, how they go about solving the mysteries is very different. Sherlock learns only slightly before the reader does, the old man in the corner already knows and testing you to see if you do. Sherlock is clearly out to stop the villain, but will show mercy on people who simply were caught up in a bad situation. The old man in the corner does nothing to effect events or people in any way, but is content to simply know the facts.
Honestly, I spent most of the book wondering about the moral character of a man who knows the truth of someone's crimes and instead of bringing it to light, simply lets things play out as they have.
It was interesting to see how, perhaps because the Baroness was a woman, women were portrayed in these stories. They tended to have larger roles, operated more independently, and simply appear more frequently. Not nearly as much as they would in stories written today, but more than I usually see in other stories written at that time.
Overall, glad I read it, but probably won't read the sequel.
No warnings apply.
Thank you to NetGalley for a free eCopy in exchange for an honest review.
But while it does, as I said, fill the same void, how they go about solving the mysteries is very different. Sherlock learns only slightly before the reader does, the old man in the corner already knows and testing you to see if you do. Sherlock is clearly out to stop the villain, but will show mercy on people who simply were caught up in a bad situation. The old man in the corner does nothing to effect events or people in any way, but is content to simply know the facts.
Honestly, I spent most of the book wondering about the moral character of a man who knows the truth of someone's crimes and instead of bringing it to light, simply lets things play out as they have.
It was interesting to see how, perhaps because the Baroness was a woman, women were portrayed in these stories. They tended to have larger roles, operated more independently, and simply appear more frequently. Not nearly as much as they would in stories written today, but more than I usually see in other stories written at that time.
Overall, glad I read it, but probably won't read the sequel.
No warnings apply.
Thank you to NetGalley for a free eCopy in exchange for an honest review.