Avenging Angel (Hardcover)

~ Kwame Anthony Appiah (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This talky, often slow-moving murder mystery is somewhat redeemed by its evocation of Cambridge University as it is now and as it was earlier in the century. Young viscount David Glen Tannock is found dead in his lodgings at Clare College, apparently of an allergic reaction to penicillin. An old family friend, barrister Sir Patrick Scott, investigates the death, which seems to involve a secret intellectual society to which both men belong, made up of active members (called Apostles) and alumni (Angels). After the poisoning of another Apostle, a brilliant young scientist, the barrister is certain that one of the society members is the murderer. Among the Apostles in question are a Russian defector, whose father was executed by David's father during WW II, and an unduly curious American. But discretion is de rigueur. One Angel is a politician about to become ambassador to Russia; others hold high positions in the university. Sir Patrick must unravel a mystery more than 50 years old to find a cold-blooded killer. The class-conscious and cerebral barrister, who narrates the tale, may not be the most attractive sleuth, but he does maintain a civilized discourse. Appiah, a professor at Duke, is a graduate of Cambridge.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Somebody's poisoning members of the Apostles, a Cambridge secret society--titled undergraduate David Glen Tannock by penicillin; eminent physiologist Charles Phipps; and has-been topologist Godfrey Stanley by some especially foul neurotoxins--and sending them death- notes with little classical tags. David's barrister cousin Sir Patrick Scott finds Cambridge so thick with suspects and motives--did David's tutor, Peter Tredwell, kill him after a homosexual come-on, or was philosopher Vera Oblomov avenging her father's killing years ago, or was American arriviste Dale Bishop protecting the tell-all book he was hatching on the Apostles?--that the final choice of one among many (reached with the help of an obliging database) carries no special weight. Aggressively literate and fawningly Anglophilic, though the storytelling is enervated and the detective a noble cipher. First of a promised series. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 207 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; First American Edition edition (August 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312058179
• ISBN-13: 978-0312058173
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #354,398 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Authentic Cambridge Atmosphere, November 4, 2001

By	Andrea Bass (Cleveland, OH) - See all my reviews

I'm the kind of mystery reader who prefers Agatha Christie to Dorothy Sayers: I prefer linear development, a sturdy sense of plot, character, and color, to the florid wordy thickets that some mystery afficiandos seem to go for.For my money, "Avenging Angel" delivers: the plot speeds ahead efficiently, and the characters are memorable and often plain funny. But it's the atmosphere--the half-satiric donnish details--that really stands out. I'd read a few books about the Cambridge Apostles, including John Banville's excellent novel "The Untouchable"; this isn't in the same league as the Banville, in my opinion, but it's far more enlightening and entertaining than the other fiction and nonfiction treatments of the famous--notorious?--Cambridge society I've seen. The book isn't readily available, though: I got mine at a second-hand book barn. I hear, by the way, that a new bio of Anthony Blunt is coming out next year; I wonder if anyone else knows about that?

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An academic mystery, January 25, 2005

By	readersf (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Avenging Angel (Hardcover)

Who killed the promising young nobleman on the eve of his Tripos? His aristocratic kinsman will find out, very much in the tradition of Lord Peter Wimsey. The setting is Cambridge (the time period is vague:some time between 1977 and 1986 is my guess--the references were confused). The local atmosphere is superb, the best evocation of Cambridge in any novel I can think of, and the best Oxbridge feel since Sayers' "Gaudy Night". I read the book 8 months ago, yet it has not gone to that limbo in my brain where the plots of most mysteries are consigned. The dialogue is suitably learned, the port is of the finest.
Now for the flaws: as a long time detective story reader, I picked out the culprit early on, and the red herrings were a little too transparent. This is a very snobbish Cambridge, much more so than the one I can remember. There is a lot of "Yes m'lord" and very deferential policemen. Those of you familiar with Appiah's later writings in philosophy and afrocentric litcrit will be very , very surprised.

But the strengths are there , too: solid prose, wonderful atmosphere. If you care, every Cambridge reference I saw here was accurate, from the steps in Memorial Court to the view down King's Parade.Most murder- on-the-campus novels make me wonder if the authors every went to college, they are so bizarre (Tom Wolfe, you know who you are). Not the case here-- this book could have been vetted by the Vice Chancellor's office, it is so accurate. The characters may be somewhat stereotyped, as they usually are in mysteries, but they are more interesting than most (the quiet mathematician with the crush on the victim, the avuncular senior academics), and the author, with one exception, does not telegraph excessive like or dislike but lets the reader make up his/her own mind.
Readers rightly hesitate to buy a detective novel sight unseen: do I want to spend this money on a laundromat read? In this case, I am glad I bought my copy. I expect to reread it some day. As I said, I think many readers will pick out the murderer and the motive early on, but will nevertheless enjoy the ride to the finish. I admit that I was disappointed as our detective zeroed in on the culprit; I had enjoyed the story and was sorry to see it ending.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars not impressive, May 26, 1999

By A Customer

I really wanted to enjoy this book. The moody English setting seems ripe for suspense, the characters all have something to hide, and the standards of this genre are low enough that I thought this would be a sure-fire laundromat read. Alas. The characters are one-dimensional and affected, and it is apparent not too long into the book who did it, though you don't find out why until the end -- and the revelation comes in a clumsy equivalent of finding a letter of confession written by the culprit. Also, the author's apparent fondness for the class system of Britain gets boring, and fast.