Seize Murder In The Museum Authored By John Rowland Format Brochure
am throwing in the towelbecause my TBR is way too big to waste time on books I simply cannot enjoy,
What is even more aggravating than actually having bought this one rather than borrowed from the library is that there were elements that should have made this book great:
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The setting: The books starts in the Reading Room at the British Museum, It is one of my favourite places, It has lots of atmosphere, The first murder takes place there, In public, but without any one noticing,
This should have made for a great locked room type mystery,
Instead, there is hardly any scene setting, and the little that is there does not describe anything about the museum or the reading room.
Why set it in the Museum then Why not an indistinguishable coffee house Or a park
Also, there is no atmosphere.
None! Most of the book seems written in pretty flat dialogue, We don't even get to know any of the characters other than by name and occupation,
. There are lot of tips of the hat to Sherlock Holmes in this book: A character caller Mr, Henry Baker like in ACD's Blue Carbuncle, the British Museum which is also mentioned in Blue Carbuncle, and later on I skip read to the end the action takes us to Dartmoor where a prisoner escaped Hound of the Baskervilles much.
Could this be more Sherlockian
Yes, Yes, it could! Why did the author stop at nicking ACD's characters and settings Why could he not have copied some of ACD's style, too It would have infinitely improved this book.
I completely gave up on the book when I got to the following:
In a few minutes he was speaking to the inspector in charge of the City police station at Oxford, and he explained his need for information, having first given the secret police sign which indicates that a fellow limb of the law is making the enquiry.
A secret police sign!! WHY They're not even under cover!
This makes no sense,
There was more that made no sense like the first officer on the scene declaring the cause of death to be poisoning by cyanide.
Surely, they must have had some protocol even inwhen this was written,
Anyway. Good riddance. Sometimes an event driving the reading enjoyment, sometimes it is really the characters and in this book, while the mystery itself was very different from what I have read before, it really was the diversity of characters and not necessarily the main characters who brought this truly to life.
The story opens with little only'" tall Henry Fairhurst coming to the British Museum Reading Room where he plays a little mind game of looking at individuals and thinking who they are, what they do.
This time, he looks over at one such man and finds a corpse,
But that is not the only appearance of Mr Henry Fairhurst, And that brings us the first twist, an amateur detective working along side the Inspector Shelley and Sgt, Cunningham of Scotland Yard.
Who killed Professor Julius Arnell and why There are plenty of twist and turns and along for the ride are Fairhurst and his spinster sister Sarah Violet Arnell, the victim's daughter and her fiancé, Harry Baker and a host of other unusual characters.
There are plenty of twists and turns too and all together it makes for a fun and enjoyable afternoon of reading.
Professor Julius Arnell dies of eating a poisoned sugared almond in the hushed atmosphere of the British Museum Reading Room, He is an expert on minor Elizabethan dramatists, Henry Fairhurst who is an inveterate people watcher and who spends a lot of time in the reading room, sees him die and is interviewed by the police,
Inspector Shelley is on the case and he is at first totally puzzled by it, The dead professor's daughter, Violet seems to have a motive for the killing as does her fiancé, But Shelley doesn't quite see them as the killers, Violet asks Henry Fairhurst for help and Fairhurst is soon helping the police in their investigations,
I enjoyed this entertaining and well plotted mystery, Some of the attitudes may seem a little dated by twenty first century readers but these were the prevailing attitudes of the day and in fact Shelley himself displays some very modern attitudes.
I liked the characters and thought they were well drawn, There were plenty of clues and just as many red herrings though it will take an observant reader to work out in advance who was responsible for the death.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review,
Three cheers for British Library Publishing and Poisoned Pen Press! Thanks to themst century readers are rediscovering wonderful mystery writers from the genres Golden Age: sitelinkJ.
Jefferson Farjeon, sitelinkJohn Bude, and sitelinkChristopher St, John Sprigg. How did these excellent mystery writers ever lapse into obscurity
Poisoned Pen Press latest reprint is Murder in the Museum, a tale in which three obscure academicians specializing in lesser Elizabethan writers end up dead.
Now, the author, sitelinkJohn Rowland, isnt of the same caliber as Farjeon, Bude and Sprigg and Scotland Yard Inspector Henry Shelley cant hold a candle to Budes Inspector William Meredith featured in sitelinkThe Lake District Murder, sitelinkThe Sussex Downs Murder, and sitelinkDeath on the Riviera however, Murder in the Museum introduces the most charming police sidekick ever, the milquetoast if insightful Henry Fairhurst.
Ridiculous with his pincenez, meek ways, and his domineering spinster sister Fairhurst finds his Walter Mittylike dreams of helping the police and being valued by them suddenly come true.
Its adorable!
Murder in the Museum takes a bit to get going, and the novel would have benefited from serious trimming in its first third.
And its two “professionals” Inspector Shelley and the dimwitted Sergeant Cunningham remain pretty twodimensional, However, I loved meek, middleaged Henry Fairhurst I just wish he could have a series to himself! Even with its faults, Murder in the Museum provides readers with a satisfying read, as long as you set your expectations accordingly.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I received this book free from NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press, and British Library Publishing in return for an honest review.
Starting in May, Poisoned Pen Press in collaboration with The British Library has been republishing classic British crime mysteries that have been outofprint, some for many years.
This particular mystery, Murder in the Museum, has not been republished since its original publication in, This is the fifth book in the British Library Crime Classics series that I have read, and it is my favorite so far.
Each book contains an introduction that I have found to be invaluable, The introductions provide details regarding the particular author, and the context in which he/she was writing, Specific to this story, there is language and some references in the novel that would not be acceptable today, The introduction provides an explanation as to why the references were left as they were originally written which was extremely
helpful to know as I was reading.
The story begins as Henry Fairhurst is conducting research in the reading room of the British Museum the UKs national library formed part of the British Museum in.
Henry enjoys people watching in the reading room, and he tries to predict what career each person has, One individual catches Henrys attention due to the mans loud snoring, Henry decides to approach him to wake him and discovers that the occupant has just expired, Scotland Yard is summoned, and Inspector Shelley is assigned the case, Henry is enthralled by the murder case and decides to pursue the case on his own independent of the Scotland Yard inquiry, As he uncovers various facts, he presents them to Inspector Shelley who begrudgingly allows Henry to continue to participate, Together the pair compile the facts to solve the mystery, I really liked both Henry Fairhurst and Inspector Shelley and their interactions,
This story has all of the elements of a classic British mystery, and I thoroughly enjoyed the story line, The ending was told in various letters which was clever and creative, Anyone who reads mysteries should add this novel to his or her list,
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