Frances’s Comments (group member since Aug 21, 2017)

Frances’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

I enjoyed this one, but not as much as the first two. I think her style is fun and amusing, and it was a well-thought out mystery which I didn't figure out. I assumed the forger would be the painter nephew so got that wrong! Well-inserted clue about the butler's former employer having fake art which I didn't catch either. The obnoxious children at the beginning were a bit overdone-I can't imagine even the worst children being taken round a museum/stately home would be climbing on furniture/handling the display items but presumably this was required for the finding of the corpse. I look forward to continuing the series.

I read these some years ago and loved them, so glad to reread with the group, though I will be a week or two before starting.

I'm joining as well and so far enjoying it-just up to ch 4 though!

I gave up half way through. I found all the characters appalling, and didn't understand how the presumably unattractive Bickleigh kept scoring with most of the beautiful young women. I just found the whole set up caused my skin to crawl and so decided not to finish-I will check back in here to find out what happens!

Roman Clodia wrote: "Yes, I felt there were too many quick revelations at the end: the gun in the barrel, the detonator fuse (too many Christies made me question the timing of the shooting so I was prepared for that one), the culprit.

It seemed pretty clear to me that Roberts and the unknown Australian were one and the same, especially when he told that dodgy story of meeting a man called Leighton in a bar who was married to the Kane cousin! ."

Agreed-I picked up on both those aspects fairly early so the denouement was not particularly surprising. I did start to wonder about Adrian Harte, particularly when he was found in the garage, but couldn't figure out a motive.

I also agree that I would have liked more of a wrap up of the characters-what happened to the odious Rosemary, do Allison and Jim marry in the end and continue living with the crotchety Mrs Emily, what happens to the business etc. All in all an enjoyable read for a golden age mystery lover, and I look forward to reading the rest of her mysteries in this series.

I've just finished this as well, and agree that I enjoyed the humour of Rosemary and Betty, particularly as we all know people like that-centring everything about themselves/making themselves sound more spiritual/sensitive/highly strung/fascinating than anyone else around them, or thinking that their children are as much of a source of wonder and joy as they themselves find them.

So sad-I did love that series and it is such a shame that she was not able to write the further books I'm sure she had in her. I also read that she went blind from Retinitis Pigmentosa before her Ca diagnosis-yet still able to continue working and writing. Such accomplishment and such a tragedy.

I've just finished this one and enjoyed it very much, although also did get somewhat lost in the intricacies of tax planning. I do love these characters, and also enjoyed the obvious ethical questioning of the whole tax-avoidance industry, which my biographical notes on Caudwell report as her area of work!

The travel guide which she quotes to these tax havens is hilarious, and I can just imagine something of the sort being circulated by hand among all the hangers-on in this industry as they head off on their junkets to the various exotic locations to which their tax-avoidance work takes them.

I'm once again late to the party, but have just started this one. I did read these many years ago and remember loving them, but thankfully don't recall much else so it will be a new read all over. I also love her wit and style, and the fun central characters.

I also quite enjoyed this, once I'd figured out I had to let go of expecting a sensible and well-thought out mystery, and just settled back to enjoy the ride. I do enjoy the dialogue and even the new words, and having recently spent a bit of time in Oxford it was fun to be able to track some of the racing about in my head (and when I got lost, my lovely edition had a map inside the front cover). I did enjoy the gentle mockery of University/Oxford life, and even the preposterous will and overall plot was amusing. I did enjoy the small discussion on being a poet, and was sorry not to see more of the Chief Inspector, who featured more prominently in the earlier books we read. I hope he will return.

Yes-his final plan was to scale his college wall and go to sleep on someone's sofa, and that no one ever minded having someone sleep on their sofa.

I'm just embarking on this, my first time reading it, and quite enjoying it so far. Coincidentally I spent a week in Oxford in the spring (I'm from Canada, it was only my second time there) so it was fun to recognize and be able to picture at least the modern version of many of the streets/Colleges. Thanks for the heads up about the shifting time and the younger Fen cf our previous two books, this might allay some confusion.

Mind boggling (at least to me) that our hero sets off on a journey without confirming train schedules or accommodation, but I suppose that allows him to arrive at such an inopportune moment!

Overall, I did enjoy this mystery, and liked Lord Peter and his entourage up to a point. Having read and thoroughly enjoyed these in my youth (40 years ago now?) I reread with mixed emotions-I'm much less accepting of the assumed privilege and wealth of Lord Peter and his family, the anti-semitism and stereotypes are jarring, and the disdain for the middle classes grates. Nonetheless, the characters we are meant to like are charming and enjoyable, and I like the pace and development of the mystery itself. The coroner's inquest was amusing, and it was interesting to see such a sympathetic portrayal of PTSD from that time.

ChrisGA wrote: "I hesitate to say anything negative as I know many of you love this author's writing, but I was disappointed by how silly Lord P seemed. I listened to an audiobook, and the narration made his shall..."

I also found him rather annoying, and the absolute acceptance of the rights and privileges of the wealthy aristocrat jarring. Poor Bunter, called out at all hours to serve his master, when he would have to stay up after him to tidy up and wake up before him to have everything ready.

I also found myself mixing up Wimsey and Albert Campion in my mind-which one was written first?

Judy wrote: "I remember the first time I read this, I was a bit disappointed that we learn nothing really about the man found in the bath except that he was very poor and how he died. It would have been nice to..."

Agreed, although the point of him was to provide a reason to get Reuben Levy into the dissecting room without questioning, so he needed to get rid of that corpse. It was the ultimate foolishness on Freke's part not to drop that corpse in the water somewhere or leave him in a back alley-another poor unknown soul who would have disappeared into a pauper's grave, no questions asked. Although we wouldn't have had a mystery then!

I will be joining you for this one and my copy is "in transit" from the library. I read all the Wimsy books many many years ago and look forward to a reread-I remember loving them at the time, but was disappointed on my Allingham reread with this group to find that my tastes and definitely changed on that series, so will see how this one holds up for me.

I really enjoyed this one as well, but got a bit stuck on how much emphasis people put on parentage making you who you are, that without knowing her parents she was nobody. I wish she'd been a bit clearer about her feelings for Bill-I still wondered at the end if she actually loved him.

Great mystery, though, and I liked all the red Herrings Grace Jenkins introduced with her "tales" of her past.

Thanks everyone, that makes sense.

I'm just starting this one, having finished the Heyer from last month. Mixed feelings about this being a long series-lots of good future reads and development, but endless tbr pile!

I did really enjoy this one, although Randall's mannerisms (especially his continually referring to Stella as "my sweet", "my darling" etc long before they were a couple) annoying. Fingers crossed it's all an act and he will behave more normally once he has secured his love.

I did twig to the toothpaste angle as soon as Aunt Harriet took them away and was then expecting her death (because if this was a suspicious death, none of his things would have been allowed to be moved/taken away) but assumed this would be a way to have Randall commit the crime-didn't see the solution at all.

Do we find out why Stella cools so quickly on Dr Fielding (or vice versa)? Was there a suggestion that he was cheating on her? Did he expect her to inherit?

Overall enjoying this series and must try one of her regency romances sometime soon.