Quote:
Originally Posted by pdurrant
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.)
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Yes, we read it for the old MR Book Club (a re-read in my case), and it had both virtues and those now highly jarring and racists sections. Overall, I enjoyed it, but it did require a willing suspension of modern day sensibilities. I'm hoping that we don't run into similar problems with next month's
New Leaf Book Club reading of
A Daughter of Time.