Appleby's answer, (A Red badge novel of suspense) [Hardcover]

Michael Innes (Author)

Book Description

Series: A Red badge novel of suspense | Publication Date: 1973

Author of detective novels, Priscilla Pringle, is pleased to find that she is sharing a railway compartment with a gentleman who happens to be reading one of her books - Murder in the Cathedral. He is military officer, Captain Bulkington, who recognises Miss Pringle and offers her ¿500 to collaborate on a detective novel. To everyone's surprise, Miss Pringle is rather taken with Captain Bulkington - is she out of her depth?

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Born in Edinburgh in 1906, the son of the city's Director of Education, John Innes Mackintosh Stewart wrote a highly successful series of mystery stories under the pseudonym Michael Innes. Innes was educated at Oriel College, Oxford, where he was presented with the Matthew Arnold Memorial Prize and named a Bishop Frazer's scholar. After graduation he went to Vienna, to study Freudian psychoanalysis for a year and following his first book, an edition of Florio's translation of Montaigne, was offered a lectureship at the University of Leeds. In 1932 he married Margaret Hardwick, a doctor, and they subsequently had five children including Angus, also a novelist. The year 1936 saw Innes as Professor of English at the University of Adelaide, during which tenure he wrote his first mystery story, 'Death at the President's Lodging'. With his second, 'Hamlet Revenge', Innes firmly established his reputation as a highly entertaining and cultivated writer. After the end of World War II, Innes returned to the UK and spent two years at Queen's University, Belfast where in 1949 he wrote the 'Journeying Boy', a novel notable for the richly comedic use of an Irish setting. He then settled down as a Reader in English Literature at Christ Church, Oxford, from which he retired in 1973. His most famous character is 'John Appleby', who inspired a penchant for donnish detective fiction that lasts to this day. Innes's other well-known character is 'Honeybath', the painter and rather reluctant detective, who first appeared in 1975 in 'The Mysterious Commission'. The last novel, 'Appleby and the Ospreys', was published in 1986, some eight years before his death in 1994. 'A master - he constructs a plot that twists and turns like an electric eel: it gives you shock upon shock and you cannot let go.' - Times Literary Supplement. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Dodd, Mead; First Edition edition (1973)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0396067441
• ISBN-13: 978-0396067443
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,475,327 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Death by fire!, December 2, 2001

By 

"[e-mail]" (Moorpark, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Appleby's answer, (A Red badge novel of suspense) (Hardcover)

Another brilliant mystery by Michael Innes. His characters are wildly eccentric, incredibly erudite, and bizarre beyond all imagination! In this book, a mystery author, Priscilla Pringle, and a headmaster of a boys' school, Captain Bulkington, meet. They discuss collaborating on a book...or are they really collaborating to murder Sir Ambrose? John and Judith Appleby stumble on the scene, and solve the mystery. But wait? Was there really a crime? When you read this book closely, you will realise that even that question is not readily apparent.

Michael Innes is one of my favorite mystery authors. His books can be difficult to find, due to the lack of availability. Take advantage of e-shops, and buy them here. You won't be sorry. The New Sonia Wayward is the most famous, but this is as good an offering as you'll find, although my favorite so far is Hare Sitting Up.