Spoiler Discussion (Aug 2018) Group Read - Thirteen Guests, by J. Jefferson Farjeon

[Erunyauve]

I quite enjoyed this one - I'm something of a language buff, so the writing style didn't bother me at all.

The mystery itself takes a bit of time to get started - we don't get a dead body until quite a ways into the book (and that's the poor dog, which I didn't like so much, but at least the characters agreed that Haig's death was the most lamentable of all the murders). However, that allowed us time to meet each of the guests - with so many in the household, it would have been easy to end up confused. Farjeon does an excellent job distinguishing each of them without resorting to tropes.

The Inspector doesn't quite get the job done, and gets lost in the picture, but he's not unlikeable, and I'm not sure he wouldn't agree that the final outcome is for the best. I was a bit disappointed with his 'great reveal' until I saw that there was more to the story. I get very annoyed with mysteries that leave parts unfinished - clues that are never explained and plot lines that are abandonned - and Farjeon wraps up everything at the end.