A review by tinywriter_
The Act of Roger Murgatroyd by Gilbert Adair

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!