Merry Christmas Everybody

There Came Both Mist and Snow

by Michael Innes

I have been reading a lot of classic 20th century crime fiction for a few years. Some good, some less so, some that stands up well to a 21st century reading and some that feels a little more dated. This title I was drawn to by the excellent cover and that it was a ‘seasonal’ tale i.e. Christmas. The fact that NetGalley gave me a copy for free was also encouraging!
 

Michael Innes wrote a quite large series of novels based around one character, Sir John Appleby and to be honest, just like classic crime, some are good and some less so.
Although the book is short, the plot really takes quite a while to get going and in the lead up to the action the book consists almost entirely of overly smart, flippant dialogue which becomes quite tiresome very quickly. I became more than a little bored.
Throughout the book the writing, although sharp and erudite, is a little too tongue-in-cheek for my liking and I found that it did not take too long for the flippancy to become irritating. Maybe I should have been expecting this as the alternative title for this novel is A Comedy of Terrors…  I wonder why they changed it for the new publication?

That’s not to say that there is not some things to like in the novel; once Appleby arrives and the plot eventually gets going it is fairly entertaining and creates a good puzzle but the characters are mere sketches and the dark aspect of the incident is treated very lightly and almost with humour; although it could be said that these complaints could be levelled at of many of the author’s contemporaries. The mistake may be that after reading a superb Georges Simenon book I directly followed with this one, which possibly highlighted the limitations in the story and the less distinct voice of the author.

Overall I did enjoy There Came Both Mist And Snow but probably mainly because of the seasonal setting of the story and the fact that I read it over the Christmas period. My feeling is that this was written as a warm, ‘novelty’ Christmas story for fans of Sir John Appleby as the other Michael Innes that I have read either have a little more weight to them or are compleltely off the wall crazy.  Starting to love him!

Death stops a lot of things

Death Stops the Frolic

by George Bellairs

You might be forgiven for thinking George Bellairs was French.  He wasn't.  But I have a feeling he was trying to tap into the Georges Simenon vibe...

What he wasn't, was a poor man's Simenon.  And he was very good.

If you like your crime novels light and infused with humour but with a well-constructed plot and good characterisation, then George Bellairs is hard to beat. He may not have been particularly radical in his approach to the crime novel but he certainly had a distinctive style and that is a style I have really warmed to over the past few years.

The previous George Bellairs novels I have read have all involved his indomitable detective, Inspector Littlejohn and been part of a series. This novel as far as I can tell is a standalone novel from 1943, quite early in the author’s writing life, and concerns another detective, Superintendent Nankivell, who has a very different back story and position, being from the local area and local police force. But although altering our perspective on the crime by being based in the locality, not having Littlejohn as the detective has little negative impact on the book, the story was as enjoyable as almost any other Bellairs novel I have read. 

It still has the tropes, details and flourishes that I have come to expect from Bellairs’ Littlejohn series: precise plotting with enough twists and red herrings to keep the story interesting but without becoming frustrating; relatively unlikely scenes and characters, just this side of believable (the main thing I love about Bellairs), and genuine humour throughout. Much of the humour comes from the colourful incidental characters, always described with great detail and care, and helping to add interest to the story and making it entertaining, if not themselves driving the story. It is for this alone that I would and indeed do keep returning to George Bellairs.

Added to this as a great little crime novel, is the incidental comments on the time this was written (1943), a time just within living memory, so very recent and yet so very distant. This novel is a time capsule and a comment on British society during the Second World War which adds to its interest and value. But even without this, it is still a very enjoyable little mystery novel. Just don’t come to this expecting modern day shocks or gore or other fetishes; this is good clean murder, and all the better for it.

An Antidote to Simenon

Death and Croissants

by Ian Moore

Look, I'm never going to have a bad word to say against Georges Simenon's writing.  He was a genius.  But he could be a bit, erm, depressing...

Death and Croissants is almost the precise opposite to Simenon.  The similarities are that it is very French and written by an author not from France.  Oh, and someone might be dead.  But here the similarities end - Death and Croissants is light, totally unbelievable and great fun!  Really not very Simenon.

I love the idea of living in France and have toyed with the idea of running a B&B in the past. So to be fair, I was predisposed to look favourably on this novel. And with the myriad accolades offered by a who’s who of British comedians and writers it can only mean that either this is a remarkable book or the author has a lot of very influential friends… Well, it turns out it might possibly be both.

I started reading this and then for one reason or another, stopped about a third of the way through to pick up something else. It was only then that I realised how much I was enjoying Death and Croissants – throughout the book for which I chose to set down Death and Croissants (which itself was very good), I couldn’t wait to get back it.

To be fair, and despite the accolades, the novel is not chockful of jokes, but it is quite good: gently humorous throughout and with a genuine and very entertaining mystery which holds up through the entire novel. But what makes it special is that there is such a feeling of lightness and warmth which really evokes the location in which it is set which makes it a real winner for me, particularly at this time of year, or if you just need a pick-me-up, as many of us currently do...  Simenon can wait!