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Rating: 
Summary: The Puzzle's the Thing
Review: A reader has to remember a couple of things about mysteries of the 30's. One is that dialogue was oftened rendered in heavy dialect as a shot at realism. The fact that it is possible to suggest a dialect without spelling out every speech difference had not occurred to a lot of people including the author of this book. The second limitation on mysteries at this time was that the puzzle was the thing that caught people's interest. Reading a mystery was considered something like doing the Sunday Times Crossword puzzle. That is why there was such a big emphasis on the author playing fair with the reader. The Asey Mayo books contain both the best and the worst of mysteries of this time. Don't expect to know more about what makes Mayo tick at the end of the book than the beginning. He is really just a bundle of qualities and knowledge that leads to the elucidation of the mystery. If someone is doing origami he can do origami better, and he learned it from some extraordinary character that he met under extraordinary circumstances. He also drives a 16 cylinder open car that he inherited from one of his employers, is apparently quite well off, and no one knows exactly how old he is. Briefly, this mystery involves a small group of authors, corrupt lawmen and employees limited to a small tavern in Weesit. The murdered person was found dead in a room with a blind boy with a broken ankle who knew nothing about the killing (they were listening to the radio together). The obvious suspect was found coming into the room with a just washed knife-- she said she had been cleaning a chicken in the kitchen. So without modern forensics or, indeed any type of forensics-- Asey just assumes the person would be too smart to leave fingerprints, he and the daughter of a wealthy coffee merchant family (who narrates) sets off to figure out who had motive, means and opportunity. And they must do it before the obvious suspect is railroaded by the corrupt lawmen. Depending on your tolerance for the two factors I mentioned about mysteries of this period, you will either go along to enjoy the ride or throw the book out the window.
Rating:
Summary: The Puzzle's the Thing
Review: A reader has to remember a couple of things about mysteries of the 30's. One is that dialogue was oftened rendered in heavy dialect as a shot at realism. The fact that it is possible to suggest a dialect without spelling out every speech difference had not occurred to a lot of people including the author of this book. The second limitation on mysteries at this time was that the puzzle was the thing that caught people's interest. Reading a mystery was considered something like doing the Sunday Times Crossword puzzle. That is why there was such a big emphasis on the author playing fair with the reader. The Asey Mayo books contain both the best and the worst of mysteries of this time. Don't expect to know more about what makes Mayo tick at the end of the book than the beginning. He is really just a bundle of qualities and knowledge that leads to the elucidation of the mystery. If someone is doing origami he can do origami better, and he learned it from some extraordinary character that he met under extraordinary circumstances. He also drives a 16 cylinder open car that he inherited from one of his employers, is apparently quite well off, and no one knows exactly how old he is. Briefly, this mystery involves a small group of authors, corrupt lawmen and employees limited to a small tavern in Weesit. The murdered person was found dead in a room with a blind boy with a broken ankle who knew nothing about the killing (they were listening to the radio together). The obvious suspect was found coming into the room with a just washed knife-- she said she had been cleaning a chicken in the kitchen. So without modern forensics or, indeed any type of forensics-- Asey just assumes the person would be too smart to leave fingerprints, he and the daughter of a wealthy coffee merchant family (who narrates) sets off to figure out who had motive, means and opportunity. And they must do it before the obvious suspect is railroaded by the corrupt lawmen. Depending on your tolerance for the two factors I mentioned about mysteries of this period, you will either go along to enjoy the ride or throw the book out the window.
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