Customer Reviews

At the Villa Rose

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
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The first part of this novel present a fast-paced, suspenseful story of murder and detection, with effective surprises. I would give that section of the novel 5 stars. Unfortunately, the murderer is unmasked two-thirds of the way through. The rest is anticlimactic, the retelling at length of the story of the murder before its discovery, a story that we already know for the most part. The retelling is (for my taste) too detailed, beginning with plot-irrelevant information on the origins of one of the characters. The retelling does go on to explain some of the details of the crime, but these are usually slight: such as why was one sofa pillow was found wrinkled and the other marked by a drop of blood.

Unless you're interested in the back-story, I would recommend skipping Chapters 15 (Celia's Story) through 20 and going straight to Hainaud Explains (Chapter 21, location 2750).

Generally, the writing is good, the characters are credible, and the plot holds interest. Hainaud the detective has an ambivalent personality that flips between kindliness and biting sarcasm, often at the expense of a happenstance sidekick named Mr. Ricardo who repeatedly states the obvious as if he were making brilliant deductions.

The Inspector Hanaud books were famous during Mason's lifetime and very popular. If you like Agatha Christie style books you should like this too.

Personally I prefer his other books such as The Drum and The Broken Road, but that is a personal preference as regards the subject matter. The book itself is just as well-written as the others.

The detective in this story has a little bit of an attitude but he is good. Not much of a surprise ending though.