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5.0 out of 5 stars
Appleby almost a no-show, February 23, 2003
This review is from: A Comedy of Terrors (Penguin crime fiction) (Paperback)
"Comedy of Terrors" (1941---also titled "There Came both Mist and Snow") is very uncharacteristic Appleby in that he doesn't show up until the middle of the story. This novel is basically a British comedy of manners, thinly disguised as a whodunit. It is narrated in the first person by one of the suspects, who happens to be a writer. The aristocratic Arthur and his relatives gather for the Christmas holiday at Belrive Priory, the ancient family seat in the north of England. Much to their dismay, they learn that the current owner of Belrive, Arthur's cousin Basil, is planning to sell his estate to a brewer. Basil, the seventh Baronet of Belrive Priory, needs the money to fund an expedition to the Arctic. When Basil's nephew Wilfred is shot, every one wonders whether Basil had been the real target---and whether there would be a second, fatal attempt on the seventh Baronet's life. Inspector John Appleby happens to be a guest at dinner on the night of the shooting. The local constable is only too happy to turn the crime over to the young CID inspector, and so Appleby enters the fray with Arthur serving as his Watson and family historian. Michael Innes (pseudonym for John Innes Mackintosh Stewart) has out-Agatha'd Christie in this early Appleby. Each character is suspected in turn, and each has a plausible motive and opportunity. The story's climax is very typical Christie, wherein all of the suspects gather in the drawing room, and each explains his or her version of the `night of terror.' There are a couple of false confessions, and finally Appleby explains ALL. The mystery itself is very complex, and the solution rather contrived. Read "Comedy of Terrors" for its highly literate prose---Appleby solves the mystery only after he recalls a verse from "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"--- and for its in-depth characterizations.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Alternate title: There Came Both Mist and Snow, February 9, 2006
"Comedy of Terrors" (1941---also titled "There Came both Mist and Snow") is very uncharacteristic Appleby in that he doesn't show up until the middle of the story. This novel is basically a British comedy of manners, thinly disguised as a whodunit. It is narrated in the first person by one of the suspects, who happens to be a writer:
"My name is Arthur Ferryman. Pause over it and---if you are of the common visualizing type---you will see a vaguely tattered fellow poking a flat-bottomed boat across a river. To this picture, however, you will have been betrayed by a false etymology; my ancestors gained their name by wielding a strikingly iron fist---`ferreus manus'---in the mediaeval period. We are the slaves of words---writers particularly so---and I believe that this aristocratic derivation, together with the fact that at my private school I was called Punts, is responsible for much of my make-up."
The aristocratic Arthur and his relatives gather for the Christmas holiday at Belrive Priory, the ancient family seat in the north of England. Much to their dismay, they learn that the current owner of Belrive, Arthur's cousin Basil, is planning to sell his estate to a brewer.
Basil, the seventh Baronet of Belrive Priory, needs the money to fund an expedition to the Arctic.
When Basil's nephew Wilfred is shot, every one wonders whether Basil had been the real target---and whether there would be a second, fatal attempt on the seventh Baronet's life.
Inspector John Appleby happens to be a guest at dinner on the night of the shooting. The local constable is only too happy to turn the crime over to the young CID inspector, and so Appleby enters the fray with Arthur serving as his Watson and family historian.
Michael Innes (pseudonym for John Innes Mackintosh Stewart) has out-Agatha'd Christie in this early Appleby. Each character is suspected in turn, and each has a plausible motive and opportunity. The story's climax is very typical Christie, wherein all of the suspects gather in the drawing room, and each explains his or her version of the `night of terror.' There are a couple of false confessions, and finally Appleby explains ALL.
The mystery itself is very complex, and the solution rather contrived. Read "Comedy of Terrors" for its highly literate prose---Appleby solves the mystery only after he recalls a verse from "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"--- and for its in-depth characterizations.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
An upperclass literary whodunit, June 21, 2004
"Comedy of Terrors" (1941---also titled "There Came both Mist and Snow") is very uncharacteristic Appleby in that he doesn't show up until the middle of the story. This novel is basically a British comedy of manners, thinly disguised as a whodunit. It is narrated in the first person by Arthur, one of the suspects who happens to be a writer: The aristocratic Arthur and his relatives gather for the Christmas holiday at Belrive Priory, the ancient family seat in the north of England. Much to their dismay, they learn that the current owner of Belrive, Arthur's cousin Basil, is planning to sell his estate to a brewer. Basil, the seventh Baronet of Belrive Priory, needs the money to fund an expedition to the Arctic. When Basil's nephew Wilfred is shot, every one wonders whether Basil had been the real target---and whether there would be a second, fatal attempt on the seventh Baronet's life. Inspector John Appleby happens to be a guest at dinner on the night of the shooting. The local constable is only too happy to turn the crime over to the young CID inspector, and so Appleby enters the fray with Arthur serving as his Watson and family historian. Michael Innes (pseudonym for John Innes Mackintosh Stewart) has out-Agatha'd Christie in this early Appleby. Each character is suspected in turn, and each has a plausible motive and opportunity. The story's climax is very typical Christie, wherein all of the suspects gather in the drawing room, and each explains his or her version of the `night of terror.' There are a couple of false confessions, and finally Appleby explains ALL. The mystery itself is very complex, and the solution rather contrived. Read "Comedy of Terrors" for its highly literate prose--Appleby solves the mystery only after he recalls a verse from "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (hence the book's alternate title)--and for its in-depth characterizations.
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