December 22: The Floating Admiral - SPOILER Thread - (1931)

[Susan]

Welcome to our December 22 group read of The Floating Admiral first published in 1931.

This is a particularly fitting book to end 2022 with as our group challenge this year featured the Detection Club. The Detection Club was formed in 1930 by a group of British mystery writers, including Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers, Ronald Knox, Freeman Wills Crofts, Arthur Morrison, John Rhode, Jessie Louisa Rickard, Baroness Orczy, R Austin Freeman, G D H Cole, Margaret Cole, E C Bentley, Henry Wade, and H C Bailey. Anthony Berkeley was instrumental in setting up the club, and the first president was G K Chesterton. There was a fanciful initiation ritual with an oath probably written by either Chesterton or Sayers, and the club held regular dinner meetings in London.

Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, G.K. Chesterton and nine other writers from the legendary Detection Club collaborate in this fiendishly clever but forgotten crime novel first published over 80 years ago. Inspector Rudge does not encounter many cases of murder in the sleepy seaside town of Whynmouth. But when an old sailor lands a rowing boat containing a fresh corpse with a stab wound to the chest, the Inspector's investigation immediately comes up against several obstacles. The vicar, whose boat the body was found in, is clearly withholding information, and the victim's niece has disappeared. There is clearly more to this case than meets the eye -- even the identity of the victim is called into doubt. Inspector Rudge begins to wonder just how many people have contributed to this extraordinary crime and whether he will ever unravel it! In 1931, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and ten other crime writers from the newly-formed 'Detection Club' collaborated in publishing a unique crime novel. In a literary game of consequences, each author would write one chapter, leaving G.K. Chesterton to write a typically paradoxical prologue and Anthony Berkeley to tie up all the loose ends. In addition, each of the authors provided their own solution in a sealed envelope, all of which appeared at the end of the book, with Agatha Christie's ingenious conclusion acknowledged at the time to be 'enough to make the book worth buying on its own'. The authors of this novel are: G. K. Chesterton, Canon Victor Whitechurch, G. D. H. Cole and Margaret Cole, Henry Wade, Agatha Christie, John Rhode, Milward Kennedy, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ronald Knox, Freeman Wills Crofts, Edgar Jepson, Clemence Dane and Anthony Berkeley.

In 2016 members of the Detection Club collaborated on The Sinking Admiral 85 years after the first joint effort.

Please feel free to post spoilers in this thread.

[Jill]

I think the authors of this probably enjoyed the exercise more than this reader did. It became a very complicated plot by the time all the writers had a go, but that was fine by me. However, I did feel that this didn't enhance the story that much. The cast was huge by the time they had all included their own characters, and I also thought Inspector Rudge's personality was changing along with the author, and that did spoil it for me.

[Frances]

Jill wrote: "I think the authors of this probably enjoyed the exercise more than this reader did. It became a very complicated plot by the time all the writers had a go, but that was fine by me. However, I did ..."

While this was a fun read in some aspects, I also found the changes jarring, and you could just feel subsequent authors turning the plot around with their additions.
The section by Knox where he gives a 39 point summary was dreadful-I just ended skipping that chapter!

One aspect that particularly jarred-we were made to feel that Elma was unattractive-both physically and in terms of personality-and yet she has this eligible man who is head over heels in love with her and willing to do quite questionable things to support her. I kept expecting to find a twist there-he is actually her brother, it's a ploy to get her her inheritance, he's a villain in his own right.

In any case, glad to have read this but would only recommend to hardcore Golden Age Mystery fans.

[Jackie]

Frances wrote

The section by Knox where he gives a 39 point summary was dreadful-I just ended skipping that chapter!

I hadn't like the chapters just prior and when I got to the chapter by Knox last night I thought it improved. but I'm only up to point 20 so far. I'll finish it tomorrow but I don't think I will recommend this.

[Susan in NC]

Frances wrote: "Jill wrote: "I think the authors of this probably enjoyed the exercise more than this reader did. It became a very complicated plot by the time all the writers had a go, but that was fine by me. Ho..."

Agree on all points, I skipped Knox’s endless points also!

I found it rather confusing because I couldn’t get a grasp on Elma, due to the conflicting descriptions of her physical appearance and personality. I also couldn’t understand the attractive man being drawn to her, and kept expecting to learn something unsavory about him, he seemed suspicious!

[Jackie]

I can't give it a good review: too confusing and not enjoyable enough.

[Roman Clodia]

I like the concept of each author writing a chapter and thought this was quite fun - but it draws attention to how different the styles and interests of each author are and so by the end the overall story has become silly. Perhaps it might have worked better if someone had had a stronger editorial role?

[Susan in NC]

Roman Clodia wrote: "I like the concept of each author writing a chapter and thought this was quite fun - but it draws attention to how different the styles and interests of each author are and so by the end the overal..."

Agreed, it did get mired in details, which I attributed to too many cooks in the writing kitchen!

[Jessica-sim]

It also might have been helpful if they agreed on a plot or at least the killer beforehand.

[Susan in NC]

Jessica wrote: "It also might have been helpful if they agreed on a plot or at least the killer beforehand."

Good point, that vital plot point should have been the baseline.

[Judy]

Susan in NC wrote: "Jessica wrote: "It also might have been helpful if they agreed on a plot or at least the killer beforehand."

Good point, that vital plot point should have been the baseline."

I agree with this. The sheer number of clues and characters does become confusing!

I've started reading The Sinking Admiral, published a few years ago, which was jointly written by 14 current Detection Club members but followed a different system which Simon Brett describes in the introduction. They worked together more closely and didn't write separate chapters, although they still finally agreed on the killer quite late on.

I'm enjoying it so far. Apparently there will be some moments of tribute to the original book, which I wonder if I'll spot. The only problem with this system is that you don't know which writer's work you are reading!

[Judy]

What did anyone think of all the other solutions by the various authors at the end of The Floating Admiral? I found that I glazed over a bit by the time I'd read a few of them, but I did find the Agatha Christie solution very intriguing.

[Susan in NC]

Judy wrote: "What did anyone think of all the other solutions by the various authors at the end of The Floating Admiral? I found that I glazed over a bit by the time I'd read a few of them, but I did find the A..."
Same here, I figured her solution would at least make sense, so honestly, I didn’t read the others!

[Valerie]

I just finished listening to this. Although I did enjoy this novel, I agree with Frances that it is really only for 'hardcore Golden Age mystery fans'. I like the premise of a group of mystery writers contributing a chapter, but I agree that it would have been much better if someone had acted as editor to tie it together better.

As I said in the 'no spoiler' thread, I think the reader added a lot to my enjoyment.

I found the appendices anti-climatic and could have done without them. I think it should have ended with the wrap up chapter, which (in my mind) was Anthony Berkley's chapter.

Three prologues was a bit much, but I did like Simon Brett's one in particular as it set the tone for me. Because of this I found some humor in the convoluted twists and turns.

[Jessica-sim]

Susan in NC wrote: "Judy wrote: "What did anyone think of all the other solutions by the various authors at the end of The Floating Admiral? I found that I glazed over a bit by the time I'd read a few of them, but I d..."

Same! (ahum I am still suffering from a slight AC bias ;-))

[Judy]

Valerie, I agree about the appendices being anti-climactic - they are rather dry as they just briefly summarise alternative solutions.