The Eighth Detective

I wasn't all that taken with this one, I ‘m afraid. The concept sounded intriguing, like a high level deconstruction of the classic mystery, but the reality didn't live up to it. The short mysteries that are the core of the book are flat and repetitive. They all take place in the same kind of milieu with the same kind of cast, and the prose is workmanlike at best. The envelope story that surrounds them all isn't a great deal better, with characters that never seem anything more than mouthpieces for the author to explain how clever he is. The climactic twist relies on reveals that have gone unseeded, which is frustrating (I'd love to think this was some kind of metatextual joke highlighting that all the rules that have been discussed at such length up to now are bunk, but...). In the end I found it a dull retread of Golden Age mysteries, lacking in spark or joie de vivre. From the blurb I was expecting something cleverer and more playful. A lot of people seem to have enjoyed it more than I did and good for them, but it just didn't do it for me.