Quote:
Originally Posted by gmw
I've been waiting to see what you made of it. You may have noticed I recently listed this as did-not-finish. I think the biggest reason was that I found Grant and his boss instantly dislikeable. I guess the language was part of that, but I think most of it was what I felt the writing was overly self-conscious. Anyway, I was interested to see your reaction.
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It's certainly not her best work, and is her first or second published novel.
There's clearly a problem of racist language and attitudes in the first part of the book, which resurfaces in a different form in the Scottish part. Probably completely unremarkable at the time, which I suppose shows how things have improved.
I quite like the way Inspector Grant is puzzled by the case. And there are some signs of the good writing to come. (I especially liked the Princess and the Pea analogy.)