Lillelara

"Good trip, sir?"

"Fine."

"Need to go, sir?"

"I´ve just arrived," Norman said.

"No, I mean: do you need to use the head, sir."

"No," Norman said.

"Good. Don´t use the heads, they are all backed up."

"All right."

"Plumbing´s been screwed up since last night. We´re working on the problem and hope to have it solved soon." He peered at Norman. "We have a lot of women on board at the moment, sir."

 

Yeah ... because that´s what women do: clogging up toilets.

[Source]

What the heck, Crichton?

Anyhow, I had this book for ages on my ebook TBR and now I´m listening to the audiobook, just to get it off of my TBR. After the "toilet incident", I don´t have high hopes for this book, though.

The first "Inspector Alleyn" mystery and I´m glad that this isn´t the first one I´ve read by Marsh. Because this book isn´t that good.

The plot is a simple one. During a house party a man dies and one of the house guests must be the murderer.

Enter Inspector Alleyn ... or someone, who is supposed to be him, because I didn´t get the impression that this Inspector is the same one as the one in "Scales of Justice". I really disliked Inspector Alleyn in his first outing. And I´m not alone. The majority of the characters in the book disliked him as well at some point or another.

The plot was meh and the whole modus operandi of the murder and how Alleyn figured it out didn´t make a whole lot of sense. And what was the purpose of this weird Russian brotherhood sub plot? 

I did like the atmosphere of Marsh´s writing, though, and the setting of a country house with a small group of suspects is one of my favorites.

But overall this book fell flat for me. Definitely not a favorite of mine when it comes to golden age mysteries.

"If this one opportunity - the only one I can ever be offered! - is denied me, " declared Kitty dramatically, "all hope is at an end!"

"Yes, but - I mean - No, dash it, Kitty - !"

"And it will be you, whom I have always believed the kindest of my cousins - at least, you are not indeed my cousin - it will be you who have inexorably slammed the gates upon my aspirations!"

"Done what?" demanded Freddy. 

"Condemned to a life of misery and - and of indignant old age!"

"No, that´s coming it too strong!" protested Freddy. "I never - "

"I should not have asked you to help me," said Kitty, stricken by remorse. "Only it seemed to me that here, perhaps, was a chance offered me of escaping from my wretched existence! I see that it will not do! I beg your pardon, Freddy: pray do not think of it again!"

 

Getting hit by a freight train or meeting one of Georgette Heyer´s determined heroines with a plan: it pretty much amounts to the same thing for the poor chap at the receiving end.

I´m in the mood for something delightful and a Georgette Heyer definitely fits that description. 

And there is cantankerous old man in this novel. But instead of killing him off, as Agatha Christie likes to do with her grumpy old men, I´m sure he´s going to be a hilarious character. 

This was fun, but also quite melodramatic. The love story had all the feels, sometimes a bit too much for my liking, especially towards the end of the book.

And as for Marguerite:

I really do think that the screenwriter of Murder Ahoy, one of the Rutherford Marple movies, has been inspired by this book:

Anyway, I´m up for the great finale and of course, I´m totally rooting for the Scarlet Pimpernel.

Had she but turned back then, and looked out once more on to the rose-lit garden, she would have seen that which would have made her own sufferings seem but light and easy to bear - a strong man, overwhelmed with his own passion and his own despair. Pride had given way at last, obstinacy was gone: the will was powerless. He was but a man madly, blindly, passionately in love, as soon as her light footstep had died away within the house, he knelt down upon the terrace steps, and in the very madness of his love he kissed one by one the places where her small foot trodden, and the stone balustrade, where her tiny hand had rested last.

 

Oh my gosh ... hahahaha. Methinks he is a bit overdramatic. 

I cannot shake the feeling that other writers of movies, books etc. have been inspired by this story. Which makes me think ...

Yeah, I have a hunch about the identity of the elusive Scarlet Pimpernel. And I´m pretty sure I´m right, because from a story telling point of view he has become the most obvious suspect over the last couple of chapters. 

This doesn´t take anything away from my enjoyment of this book, though, simply because this is a whole lot of fun from beginning to end. And I´m fully prepared for the mayhem which (hopefully) will ensue during the rest of the novel.

Ah! There was a man she might have loved, had he come her way: everything in him appealed to her romantic imagination; his personality, his strength, his bravery, the loyalty of those who served under him in the same noble cause, and, above all, that anonymity which crowned him, as if with a halo of romantic glory.

 

[Source]

LoL, this is so tropy. I´m loving it.

I´ve just spent the last 40+ pages in "The Fisherman´s Rest", an inn in Dover and I´m thoroughly enjoying this story so far. And I have to applaud the author for having the audacity to spent a huge amount of time in the same setting. 

Marguerite, or, as I like to call her, the brain ... what is up with her? It´s pretty obvious that she is married to a complete moron, which makes me wonder if she had some ulterior motive for marrying that specific specimen of the male sex.

I´m a bit bothered by the fact that someone has added the Vintage edition of this book with a Penguin cover. Honestly, who does that? I already changed the cover, maybe a librarian would be so kind to check my request :).

Anyway, I´m about to go back to the multitude of Mrs Dashwoods. So far not a lot has happened besides making clear that John Dashwood and his wife Fanny are horrible people.

"You must needs have wished to die, to know how good it is to live."

 

 

[Source]

Well, this was fantastic.

There were draggy parts in the middle of the book, which is my only minor complaint. But the intricate plot and the characters are outstanding. And the ending ... I loved it. What a book!

Not even the concierge had seen the man´s face, either when he was coming or going out. In winter he buried his chin in one of those red scarves that high-class coachmen wear while they are waiting for their masters to leave the theatre; in summer he was always blowing his nose just at the moment when he might have been seen going in front of the lodge. It must be said that, contrary to all usual practice, this inhabitant was not being spied on by anone and that the rumour going around that his alias disguised a most eminent personage - and one who could pull lots of strings - had led people to respect the mystery of his coming and goings.

 

[Source]

I wonder who that guy is ... ;)

ETA: Never mind. It´s not the count.

I liked the characters and the school setting. But there wasn´t enough Poirot in this novel and the whole "secret service / foreign office" storyline took something away from the intrigue of the mystery.

I really liked the bitter sweet ending for one of the characters, though.

Overall, not my favorite Christie, even though it has some aspects to it that make me look forward to a reread of this book.

This is a weird story because

a) I´m not sure what to make of the foreign office / princess storyline and

b) Poirot hasn´t made an appearance just yet.

I really like Miss Bulstrode, though.