Customer Reviews

His Burial Too

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Once again, Catherine Aird has taken a classic idea, the locked room mystery, and given it her own ingenious spin. In this, the sixth book in her Inspector Sloan series, the body of a murdered man is found buried under the rubble of a fallen monument in the bell tower of a church. No one can get into the room because the rubble is blocking the only door.

So how was he murdered? The unfolding of the story includes love, lust, religion, science, big business, greed and misunderstandings. All done in a very British way, of course.

Poor Inspector Sloan is saddled, as usual, with the young, brash and brainless Constable Crosby, who provides a light touch to Catherine Aird's prose. If you like Ellis Peter's Detective George Felse series, you'll really enjoy Catherine Aird.

"His Burial too" is an average read(the two previous Sloan mysteries are slightly better) with a few interesting twists on the locked-room mystery. A man who worked at a patent firm is found dead, crushed by a marble statue that had exiting the room impossible. So Inspector Sloan and his bumbling, eternally young sidekick Constable Crosby try and figure out how the guy was killed. Very rare murder weapon and a few Byzantine twists help save it.

Ms. Aird's version of a "locked-room" mystery is an intriguing one. Her dry wit and intelligent writing make it an excellent example of thie genre. Not only that, but the book in its entirety takes place during the space of one day. It can't get much tighter than that. It all begins when an arm is seen amongst several tons of broken plaster in a locked church bell tower. This sets Inspector Sloan on the track of a murderer. But its her characters that make the story so special - the enigmatic Sloane, the bumbling Sergeant Crosby and the colourful Superintendent Leeyes. Ms Aird is a master craftsman of the the cozy mystery formula.

While this wasn't my favorite Inspector Sloan novel, it was still a great addition to my mystery library. It's always fun to see a new twist on the locked-room genre!