Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsInteresting Despite the Unlikeable Protagonist!
Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2016
I usually enjoy classic mystery, despite the somewhat stilted language and dated attitudes. And I did enjoy this story, set in a fictional Indiana county, despite the fact that the protagonist -- supposedly a 27-year-old man -- was so immature and bad-tempered that he was often downright unlikeable. He was also so incredibly dense that it's a wonder he could get up in the morning and tie his own shoes. (Thank heaven he was only supposedly living in Indiana, and not a Hoosier. That would be a real slur on my fellow citizens.) There were a few howlers throughout the story (tiger hunting in Africa?!) that were unintentionally hilarious, although the existence of orders of Anglican nuns is not, as some of the reviewers on this page tend to think, all that unusual, especially in the previous century. The Kindle version contained some sudden repeats of a sentence throughout, centered, and seeming to make no sense until I realized they were likely captions left over from an earlier illustrated edition. They were very disconcerting, though, and should probably be removed if an updated edition is issued. A nice little twist at the ending made the book worth wading through, although I have to admit a good deal of skimming here and there when the tale bogged down in its own self-importance.
