The Mr. Quin stories all revolve an aging gentleman named Mr. Satterthwaite who has spent his life cultivating a peerless taste in art of every kind. He knows many, many people, and often happens to be at someone's estate when someone is in dire straits, or encounters desperate people while on holiday, and so on. Then the mysterious Mr. Harley Quin will show up and give Mr. Satterthwaite a helpful hint or a nudge of some kind, and events will take a sudden turn, usually for the better. Several suicides and murders are avoided, some grave disappointments are averted, and some crimes are solved over the course of the book. And many of the stories have just a touch of eeriness, but no actual creepiness.
This would have been a great collection to read in October around Halloween, and I'll probably reread it in the autumn in a couple of years, once I have forgotten how most of the mysteries turn out. That way, they will be fresh and delightful again. Happily, I only remembered the solution to one of the stories I had previously read, and I only remembered it about a page before we got to the reveal. Quite delightful.
My favorite stories in the collection were "The Face of Helen," "The Dead Harlequin," and "The World's End."
Particularly Good Bits:
Mr. Satterthwaite put away the little set speech he had prepared, and hastily rummaged for sympathy and friendship in the bottom drawer of his mind (p. 183, from "The Face of Helen).
He was a sensible young man, and, as such, uninteresting to Mr. Satterthwaite, who was an artist and a connoisseur in life (p. 249, from "The Bird with the Broken Wing").
If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for several murders, discussions of and depictions of suicide, and other crimes.
No comments:
Post a Comment
What do you think?
Comments on old posts are always welcome! Posts older than 7 days are on moderation to dissuade spambots, so if your comment doesn't show up right away, don't worry -- it will once I approve it.
(Rudeness and vulgar language will not be tolerated.)