1955 murder mystery. Fanny Lynam throws a party to celebrate the
engagement of her younger half-brother, and makes her special lobster
patties. That will turn out to have been a mistake.
I was impressed with Ferrars' maturity in The March Hare
Murders (1949), but here alas we're mostly back to the recipe as in
her pre-war books: every woman in the place is shrill and nervy and
"hysterical", and the men put up with them for no obvious reason. I
suppose there must have been a market for this style, but it's not to
my taste.
Quite a bit hinges on a genetic inability to taste the bitterness of a
particular substance, and this is very clearly something that Ferrars
had recently found out and become fascinated by – alas, to the point
that the explanation for its use ends up needing a character to behave
impulsively at one moment and with cold planning the next. Someone
else manages to act casually friendly to everyone, despite having
spent a large part of their life obsessing about revenge.
I quite liked some of the character moments here, particularly the way
the local troublemaker is shown as not completely unsympathetic, but
I felt that the ultimate reason behind the mystery was a very weak
skeleton on which to hang some quite interesting behaviour.
‘No, I'm sure she's a charming, intelligent, nice-natured girl and
that we're all going to love her. The only thing is …’
‘Well?’
‘Well, damn it, Colin, what does someone as charming, intelligent
and so on as all that want with my poor Kit?’
‘Kit's very attractive — you ought to know that by now,’ he said.
‘Yes, but to marry …’
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