Customer Reviews

Arrow Pointing Nowhere: #7 Henry Gamadge (Henry Gamadge Mysteries)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you want to read Daly's mystery-formulation at its most extreme, this is the book for you. Her detective Henry Gamadge receives, in preposterous ways, a series of preposterous clues, figures out about half of the mystery right away, and struggles to figure out and prevent a consequent but subtle murder plot [while not preventing two others that are equally predictable].

That sounds bad, and put off at least one other reviewer, but the book is very good for someone who can suspend disbelief. Gamadge's deductive steps are pretty tight, the plot allows the characters to be quite unusual, and the denouement was, for me, totally unexpected, but still fully explained and sensible in an odd way. Those are some of the beauties of Daly's writings; another is her setting of the novels in 1930s upper-middle to upper-class New York City, with elucidation of the oddities of that way of life in that time. Daly's other mysteries are more 'normal', but all of them have similar plot twists and unlikely developments. I definitely recommend her, though she's not for everyone.

Daly's are early and less capable versions of the mysteries of Peter Dickinson, whose books are often simply amazing in intellectual quality [a plug for one of my favorite authors--sorry.] It's also obvious why Agatha Christie liked her--Daly has better characterization, odder plots in early stages, and more improbable but inevitable solutions if you buy into the plot.

"Arrow Pointing Nowhere" is one of Felony and Mayhem Publishing's rare misfires. First published in 1944, and probably seeming somewhat dated at that time, the book has so many other false notes that it's hard to list them all.

Basically, this is a tale of murder and deception in a nice, upper middle-class New York City family. The crime solver here is one Henry Gammadge, a kind of amateur/not amateur sleuth. One of the major flaws of the book is that Gammadge is portrayed as both a cerebral genius who has everything figured out in his head, and at the same time, a hapless and ineffectual bungler who allows one murder after another to take place under his nose. The rest of the lineup of characters is synthetic and unbelievable. The author's language is vaguely 19th Century, bearing no resemblance to mid-20th Century America, let alone NYC of that time.

Sorry to say it, but this book deserves a pass. It doesn't come close to most of the fine vintage mysteries that Felony and Mayhem has been publishing in recent years.

daly, according to a blurb on one of her books, was agatha christie's favorite mystery writer. it's obvious why.

all the clues are presented to the reader. daly plays fair. she also writes much better than christie. her characters are interesting, consistent. her dialogue is natural.

recommned for any mystery reader.

Daly's leisurely writing style is almost too placid in the first part of the book. Once the mystery starts to unfold it becomes more interesting. And it's a surprise when the villain is unmasked.

But the original clues that Gamadge receives and prompts him to act are pretty farfetched and outlandish, which makes you question the whole plot.

An okay read, but not Daly's best effort.