Ron K. (WhidbeyIslander) -
As one of the characters writes, "without doubt a most extraordinary concatenation of circumstances." The writing style is a pleasant one and for most of the first half of the book the plot holds your interest. But it falls apart in the latter chapters and devolves into a silly chase at the end. It's a fairly complicated tale that depends on so many of the people involved knowing each other that it stretched the suspension of disbelief past the breaking point. As Martin Edwards mentions in his Introduction to the British Library Crime Classics edition, the too-often used word "Jew" to describe one of the characters was off-putting, but reflected attitudes of the time (1930's Britain.)
Carol S. (waucondacarol) reviewed Murder in the Museum (Inspector Shelley, Bk 6) on + 319 more book reviews
Wonderful story with murders all tied to the British Museum reading room. A mild mannered man, Henry Fairhurst, is annoyed by a man sitting near by in the reading room who is loudly snoring. When Henry shakes the man to wake him up the snoring suddenly ceases and the man is dead. Did his daughter murder him or her fiance or his nephew? And when more murders happen, Inspector Shelly accepts the help of Mr Fairhurst to solve the baffling case.
