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Death at the President's Lodging (Sir John Appleby, #1)

Michael Innes

Start date: February 1, 2017

Finish date: February 28, 2017

Discussion: Group reads

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What Members Thought

Jul 18, 2011 Bev rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: academic-mystery, mystery, vintage-mystery

From the back of the book: At St. Anthony's College, Inspector John Appley must contend with academic intrigues, scholarly scandals, and one very clever killer.

Murder in the sanctity of an english university was bad enough; but such a vulgar, ungentlemanly murder--bones scattered about the room, a grotesque drawing of grinning death's-heads scrawled on the wall, and poor President Umpleby's head wrapped in an academic robe--was a serious blot on the college's reputation. In this complex and bri ...more

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Jun 25, 2022 Nancy Oakes added it · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-fiction, crime-fiction-uk, mystery-series-first-novel, 2022

more later but for now:

as a series opener goes, Death at the President's Lodging is not bad, but having read other books by Innes prior to this one I can honestly say that this is not his best work. I tend to expect that so I factored that into my thoughts about this novel. I happen to like mysteries set in the halls of academia (or academe if you're so inclined) as well as philosophy, so it was fine for me but I can see that it might not be everyone's cuppa. The author does, however, offer ple ...more

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Aug 04, 2022 Ruskoley rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: book-1, mystery, crime-fiction, 1930s

This novel was published when Innes was only thirty years old and while I think it is nearly excellent, there are some minor issues that I think keep it from being a five-star novel. First and foremost the most important point to emphasize is that this is not an entirely coldly serious novel, it is a bit self-referential and it does seek to amuse via subtle wit at the expense of detective novels in general. Not just mystery novels, but also academic life (specifically high-brow British).

The over ...more

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Apr 07, 2011 Lemar rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

The first of what would become several Inspector Appleby mysteries, These novels by Innes are erudite and feature literary references many of which I did not get but I enjoyed being in such deep water. This one in particular shows a deep investigation into the human psyche. While meant as a fun mystery it is does not shy away from examining the psychology of a murderer.

1 like · Like · see review