A couple of years ago, when I was in a mystery book club, my friend Elli suggested that we read one of Michael Innes’ Inspector Appleby books. They’re classics — traditional, British, Scotland Yard, the whole ball of yarn.
None of us liked it. A couple of us hated it.
So Elli had to work up her courage a bit to recommend Catherine Aird’s Inspector Sloan mysteries, but I convinced her to let me read her copy of “The Stately Home Murder” (1970) because she said it was funny, really funny.
She’s right.
“The Stately Home” in question is Ornum House, and the murder is that of the Ornum family archivist, whose body is found — encased in a suit of armor, no less — by a mischievous boy whose mother has brought him to tour the public part of the earl’s home on a Sunday afternoon. Somehow Aird manages to capitalize on all the elements of traditional British mystery (nobles with an odd assortment of relatives and spongers, a ghost, family dungeons, servants, a home with almost 300 rooms) while at the same time poking fun of it all. Inspector Sloan is both clever and witty, and he reveals the solution over tea in the drawing room — where else?
Good one, Elli. What’s your next recommendation?
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Elli gave me on of the Katherine Aird books for my birthday last year saying it was just right because “It’s got history and it’s got mystery.” A MOST CONTAGIOUS GAME was Aird’s only stand-alone book, published in 1967 just after her first Inspector Sloan book. It is called her “forgotten book” because it wasn’t listed on her website until relatively recently or even in “Wikipedia”!
In any case, I recommend it highly. A mystery occurring in a manor house in an imaginary locale, Calleshire, involving as it were, the house and the discovery of a priest hole complete with a skeleton from 150 years earlier.
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Oh, that sounds like a good one, too! You can leave it in my mailbox.
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As for Aird’s Inspector C. D. Sloan he is, of course, called Seedy by his friends. Also a favorite character is the young, annoying, endearing idiot, Detective Constable Crosby. FYI for your readers who are on the brink of ordering any of Aird’s wonderful books.
Now here’s a rec for your followers who are Law & Order: special victims unit fans. I am not a Cop by Richard Belzer. Belzer has apparently made TV hisstory since his character, Detective Munch appears in 10 different television series. Previously he was a stand up comic; check that out on YouTube. The book is ok with a plot ingenious enough to keep one reading. The book’s also a kind of post-modern riff on identity, etc. i.e. who’s Richard Belzer, who’s Detective Munch? The Munch character is wonderful: caustic, Jewish, conspiracy theorist, compassionate…. book’s out in paperback.
I’ve included Mercury’s blog address below since she too has reviewed mysteries–those entries are about 2 years old…. search for Simenon, Ross McDonald, M.C.Beaton and many others.
Finally, the Ross McDonald mysteries are excellent: set in mid 20th-century Southern CA and influenced by Freudian psychology. Plus, they’re fun.
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Great suggestions! Adding to my reading list, Elli. And I didn’t know he was called “Seedy,” but that makes it even funnier.
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