Rating: 4 Stars
Source: NetGalley
Description: Early one morning reserved but ordinary Grace Jenkins was found run down in the road in the quiet village of Larking. Her daughter, Henrietta, returns home to identify the body and sort through her mother's possessions. But it turns out that Grace had a lot of secrets and no one is sure who Henrietta really is.
Genre: Mystery
Why I Picked This Book: I've been in a classic mystery phase lately and I've enjoyed the one previous book of Aird's that I had read.
My Impression: Reading this book I kept thinking that if DI Sloan and his colleagues had had access to Google this book would've been 25 pages long tops. However, lucky for us this book was published in 1968 long before everything was stuck in some kind of database or other, and we get about 160 pages of mystery upon mystery. Who is Grace Jenkins? Who is Henrietta? And who is the man in the picture? There are so many questions and every answer seems to lead to 3 more questions. I was worried that the ending would feel rushed or that the book itself would feel overstuffed since the actual page count was pretty short. Aird managed to perfectly balance all the details and while everything came together fast it didn't feel rushed. I thoroughly enjoyed my 2nd Catherine Aird book and am really looking forward to reading more and getting to know Detective Inspector Sloan a bit better.
Would I Read More of this Series/Author?: Definitely! She's made my authors I want to binge read list.
Would I Recommend this Book?: If you enjoy mysteries you really should give Catherine Aird a try.
Challenges Met?
Google, the 21st century sleuth ;) I've got to give her a try and I love that old-fashioned cover !
ReplyDeleteI've not ever read any of this author's books. I've been sort of aware of her, but not run across her characters much. Your comment about musing that if they'd had Google, the information would have come to hand faster is interesting. Think how writers have had to adapt stories if they are set in the current day to keep up with technology. It's amazing how many things are virtually instantaneous now or must seem so.
ReplyDeleteI've never even heard of Catherine Aird, but now you've made me curious!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely has that creepy looking feel to it.
ReplyDeleteOh google, how you have greatly improved our time management. Lol!
Happy reading!
Brittany @ This is the Story of My(Reading) Life
I read most of her books years ago, but could reread as I have forgotten most of them.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds good. I should make time for the classics.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read a Catherine Aird mystery before. This one sounds like fun. I liked what you said about how, with Google, the book would have been 25 pages :)
ReplyDeleteLOL, they could have solved it with Google in 25 pages..you crack me up. This does sound good and I do love the period.
ReplyDeleteSounds very mysterious (as long as I don't google LOL).
ReplyDeleteThe internet definitely does take some of the leg work out of solving a mystery, doesn't it? I haven't read this author before, but you have me curious.
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