A Private View aka One-Man Show / Murder Is an Art (The Inspector Appleby Mysteries Book 13) - SPOILER Thread - (July/August 24)

[Susan]

Welcome to our buddy read of A A Private View aka One-Man Show / Murder Is an Art, the 13th Inspector Appleby Mystery, by Michael Innes, published in 1952.

Sir John and Lady Appleby attend a memorial exhibition of the oils, gouaches, collages and trouvailles of artist Gavin Limbert, who was recently found shot, under very suspicious circumstances. As Assistant Commissioner of Police, Sir John is already interested, but he becomes even more intrigued when Limbert's last masterpiece is stolen from the gallery under his very eyes.

Please feel free to post spoilers in this thread.

[Jill]

I'm afraid this is barely a 2 star from me. The plot of the book would have been good, but it was such an uphill struggle for me. I lost patience with the pathetic pigeon English dialect of the foreigner, and then the notion that a police commissioner would surge ahead in pursuit of a criminal, let alone a whole gang of them without back up, I found ridiculous. And then to top it all, the wife of the commissioner is taken along with the investigating team! I do expect some leeway in fiction but this was just too much.

[Judy]

Jill wrote: "... and then the notion that a police commissioner would surge ahead in pursuit of a criminal, let alone a whole gang of them without back up, I found ridiculous ..."

I do agree this is very far-fetched. This kind of thing often seems to happen in novels like this, and I was enjoying the characters and atmosphere, so I just let myself be carried along with it, but I can see your point.

[Rosina]

I don't think any of Innes books are 'true to life'. As Judy says, it's the characters, the talk and the atmosphere that are enjoyable.

[Abigail]

I rather liked the unrealistic aspects of the storyline cited here. I thought the pidgin English was well done, quite creative in its wordplay; I didn’t blink at Appleby’s wading in alone to prove something to himself—especially after the humiliation of being on the scene during a theft—and Judith may have been brought along because she was in a position to identify some of the malefactors. Plus, I think Cadover was sympathetic to her fear about Sir John being in danger.

This seems to me like the tail end of a clubbier era of detection, at least as portrayed in fiction; there is a fantasy aspect to many GA mysteries that I enjoy. The P.D. James-style realism that came in during the 1960s leaves me cold—I don’t enjoy gritty.

I love the brio of Innes’s language and the vivid eccentricity of his minor characters. One thing that bothered me a little was the divergence in tone between the sections of the story that focused on Sir John (lighthearted, amusing) and the sections that focused on Judith (suspenseful, almost melodramatic). I sensed a latent sexism behind that divergence—the female character seen by the author as a vulnerable potential victim, the male character as a confident doer.

[Judy]

Abigail wrote: "I love the brio of Innes’s language and the vivid eccentricity of his minor characters. One thing that bothered me a little was the divergence in tone between the sections of the story that focused on Sir John (lighthearted, amusing) and the sections that focused on Judith (suspenseful, almost melodramatic). I sensed a latent sexism behind that divergence—the female character seen by the author as a vulnerable potential victim, the male character as a confident doer...."

This hadn't struck me but yes, I can see what you mean about the changing tone in different sections, although actually John Appleby could well have ended up as a victim as things turn out.

I rather liked the sections with Judith travelling along with the police and trying to find him, because it was so tense and exciting, even though I can see that it is very far-fetched for them to take her. It slightly reminds me of Esther travelling with the detective Mr Bucket in Bleak House, the sort of nightmare atmosphere that builds up.