Rating: 4/5
Review:
An entertaining read
I enjoyed Hall Of Mirrors.
It is the first Bryant and May book I have read; it works fine as a
stand-alone novel, but I suspect that there are quite a few running gags and
references which I'd have picked up better if I had read some of the previous
ones.
It is 1969 and, following a major debacle while in pursuit
of a suspect, Arthur and John are sent to a crumbling stately home in Kent
to guard a threatened witness in a forthcoming high-profile trial. A good deal of chaos ensues, including a
number of deaths, and an Agatha Christie-like mystery develops.
It's a very well written tale and Christopher Fowler has a
lot of fun both recreating and sometimes tweaking the nose of the Golden Age
country-house mysteries. There is some genuine
humour and the period is very well evoked, while the story itself is actually a
pretty decent puzzle with two engaging protagonists and an enjoyable cast of
characters.
If I have a gripe, it is that at 400 pages the book is too
long and did begin to drag on a bit, but it's an enjoyable, entertaining read
with some good social history underpinning it.
Recommended.
(My thanks to Doubleday for an ARC via NetGalley.)
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