hand in glove
eh, i really don't have that much to say about ngaio marsh's hand in glove. i am more reveling in the fact that it is, in fact, possible for me to post about a book in a timely manner after completion. truthfully, it's been a slow week. i've grazed a bit, read a lot online and in magazines, but no book is particularly calling to me. i pretty much just picked up this one because i needed something to read on the bus ride home from work, and a light mystery is usually a good way to go in those instances. as you might guess, i'd prefer a christie or a sayers, but we (scandalously!) own no sayers at my library and i've read all the christie we have, save the short stories which i'm not so into. thus: marsh. i'd never read anything by her and she's often lumped in with those two, so it seemed like a good option.
i suspect that this isn't one of her strongest books? or maybe i should say that i hope this isn't one of her stronger books. it isn't bad, but it seemed pretty by the numbers and not especially remarkable in anyway whatsoever. it moved more slowly than christie and wasn't as literary and sink-into-me as sayers. it took longer than i would've liked to get to the crime and at first i had a great deal of trouble keeping the various characters straight. for a while in the middle i was very excited because i thought maybe the butler did it. and, as much as that is a genre cliche and as much as i've dabbled in the genre, there are very few instances that i can think of where, in fact, the butler did it. but (sorry for the spoiler) he didn't here either. i'm curious enough that i'd read other mysteries by her - i think it usually takes more than one book to get a real sense of an ongoing character and superintendent alleyn didn't exactly bowl me over with his keen detective skills here. but i won't rush out. next time it's time to ride home and i've nothing in my bag though ... i'd be willing.
i suspect that this isn't one of her strongest books? or maybe i should say that i hope this isn't one of her stronger books. it isn't bad, but it seemed pretty by the numbers and not especially remarkable in anyway whatsoever. it moved more slowly than christie and wasn't as literary and sink-into-me as sayers. it took longer than i would've liked to get to the crime and at first i had a great deal of trouble keeping the various characters straight. for a while in the middle i was very excited because i thought maybe the butler did it. and, as much as that is a genre cliche and as much as i've dabbled in the genre, there are very few instances that i can think of where, in fact, the butler did it. but (sorry for the spoiler) he didn't here either. i'm curious enough that i'd read other mysteries by her - i think it usually takes more than one book to get a real sense of an ongoing character and superintendent alleyn didn't exactly bowl me over with his keen detective skills here. but i won't rush out. next time it's time to ride home and i've nothing in my bag though ... i'd be willing.