A review by melissa_who_reads
Lament for a Maker by Michael Innes

4.0

Enjoyable but ... I came up with the second solution, but not the third or fourth. One knew the first couldn't be right but then there were twists and turns and twists. I didn't love the plot device of telling the story from multiple points of view - the first narrator is an old Scots man, with an emphasis on the Scots. After a while I had to live with the fact that half the words I didn't really know, so if I could just get a sense of what was going on that would be enough. The second narrator I found engaging, and was a bit sad to leave him and go on to the third narrator - who turned out to be engaging in his own way. And the fourth was Appleby himself, finally dragged into the narrative as a minder for two who had run away as the murder happened ... At one point the narration goes off to Australia, and for a bit it turns into a very different adventure story. Death, madness, old families, loyalties, betrayal, love, seduction - it all plays a role in this mystery set in a dark, uncomfortable, rat-infested Scottish castle. Even the rats play a role in the solving of the mystery.