Circular Staircase, chapters 23-end

[Mark Pghfan]

Hello, all!

Here is the final section of our September discussion. Including spoilers, here.

Well, I have to say the book pretty well tied up most of the things I was wondering about, and there were a lot of them! , There have been a comment about MRR's books, that there is a strain of "if I had but known" in them. I'm not sure how obvious that is here, but I guess if we had known Alex's real identity, things might have been easier to figure out.

The heroine is certainly intrepid. She calls herself an old lady, and an old spinster from time to time, but there are certainly no flies on her. Spunky and intuitive.

My only criticism is that the book could probably have been 50 or so pages shorter. What do you think?

[Tina]

"...no flies on her," for sure, Pghfan. lol


I agree. Book could've been 25 to 50 pages shorter. That said, not the best, not the worst read. ;-)

[Tina]

Seems Warner should've made it a business to find out to whom "Mr. Innes" was in heated discussion with.

[Nicole]

I really enjoyed the book and thought it was very well-written. The mystery has stood the test of time, and aside from the electricity being shut off at midnight and the mention of horses the story could have taken place in modern times. I feel as if I need to go back and re-read it, to see if I catch the Alex/Jack tie-in. Also, I'd heard that the phrase "the butler did it" originated in TCS, but I don't recall coming across it, and I even did a phrase search on my Kindle after I'd finished the book. Does anyone else recall stumbling across it?

[Tina]

Now that you mention it, I didn't catch "The Butler Did It" phrase either.

[Nicole]

I did some research - here's a link (one of many, apparently it's a hot topic!):
http://www.neatorama.com/2012/09/06/W...

[Tina]

Nicole wrote: "I did some research - here's a link (one of many, apparently it's a hot topic!):
http://www.neatorama.com/2012/09/06/W..."

Sweet! Thanks for that, Nicole.

[Tina]

Author sets up another fine suspense-filled scene pgs. 168-169 and so on. Spooky.

[Nicole]

Tina wrote: "Nicole wrote: "I did some research - here's a link (one of many, apparently it's a hot topic!):
http://www.neatorama.com/2012/09/06/W..."

Sweet! Thanks for that, Nicole."

You're welcome! :-)

[Mark Pghfan]

What an interesting read, thanks for the link. Though MRR coined the phrase, it was not in this book.

I agree with Nichole that the book has a very present-day feel to it, baring a few lines. Certainly the intrepid female protagonist helps make it that way.

[Tina]

And the intrepid female protagonist could've throttled the doctor when he declared that, "It's no place for a woman." lol

[Tina]

...however, no matter what era or how liberated, I don't think I could ever be party to that late night haunt or hunt. Ick!

[Mark Pghfan]

While the doctor was a pain, the policeman was unusually cooperative in working with Rachel. That seemed unusual.

[Nicole]

Mark, I wonder if that was a deference on his part to her social standing.....maybe, maybe not.

[Mark Pghfan]

Nicole, I think it may have been, but it is certainly not something we see often in our books with amateur detectives.

[Nicole]

True, Mark. ;-)

[Tina]

Just wondering...if aunt was just renting at Sunnyside, would her "renovations" be appropriate? Did aunt purchase the place and I missed it? I just think her tearing up the place could earn her a lawsuit unless it's due to the above noted deference. Mmm? :-/

[Mark Pghfan]

She did in fact just rent the space and probably shouldn't have done any renovations. I'm assuming she left after the solution of the mystery, as she said she would.

[PugMom]

Finally able to finish! I'm glad a lot of things were cleared up. I really liked Rachel. She's such a cool aunt!
One question though. Maybe I missed it but why didn't anyone notice Alex was really Jack? Did he wear a disguise? I admit at the end I was reading fast to find out what happened!

[Nicole]

I think that Halsey and Gertrude knew but didn't say anything. Rachel had never met him, and I can recall how much interaction he had with the other characters.

[Tina]

Mmm?

Loved the chimney room scene. My favorite read is a book filled with suspenseful scenes like this over slice-of-life stuff that many modern day cozies focus on rather than building a great plot and mystery. But that's just my opinion. ;-)

[Nicole]

Oh, when the culprit came into the room with Rachel and didn't know she was there because it was dark - so scary/funny!

[Tina]

Nicole wrote: "Oh, when the culprit came into the room with Rachel and didn't know she was there because it was dark - so scary/funny!"

Right up my dark and stormy alley. LOL