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Suicide Excepted (Inspector Mallett, Bk 3)
Suicide Excepted - Inspector Mallett, Bk 3 Author:Cyril Hare Inspector Mallett's stay at the country house hotel of Pendlebury Old Hall has been a disappointment. Room, food and service have been a letdown and he eagerly anticipates the end of his holiday. His last trial is to sit and listen as the hotel boor, whose family once owned the house, sits down at his table. The next day the man is dead and ... more »Mallett unwittingly finds himself investigating the suspicious 'suicide'.« less
If you like classic British authors and don't know Cyril Hare, you are missing out. Unlike many of today's grim offerings, a Hare novel offers a dash of humour along with its good writing, good characters, good plots and satisfactory endings.
"Is equal in interest to Mr. Hare's other detective stories, and that puts in very good company indeed."says James Sando of the New York Herald Book Review. "Distinguished by plot-twist which I'll wager Chrisit wishes she'd thought of." states The New York Times. [Cyril are is the pseudonym of the distinguished judge, the late Alfred Alexander Gordon Clark.]
If you're looking for a mystery with a lot of action, skip this book. There are no shootouts, car chases, exploding bombs, international conspiracies, mass murders, or strange cults killing everyone to keep ancient treasures or secrets hidden. But what you will find is a classic British mystery masterfully done. This novel was originally published in 1939.
Most of the work is done by amateur sleuths with some later assistance by a British police inspector. It's a merry tale consisting mostly of tracking down people who just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time. Or is it the other way around? In any case, I found it fascinating.
Of course, the final reveal blew me away. I had no idea. Or maybe I did. A brief discussion of some travel arrangements in the very beginning seemed odd to me. But as the story sped along, I forgot about it. It was only in the end that its importance was revealed.
Third book in the Inspector Mallet series. I really enjoyed this book, but was a little disappointed to note that Mallet was in this book very little -- some at the beginning and, of course, at the end. But it was still a very good mystery. I love how the ending sneaks right up on you.
