Tangled Web UK Review December 2007
The Act of Roger Murgatroyd by
Gilbert Adair
hbk out November 06
Published by Faber
at £10.99
Although Gilbert Adair has ventured before into the crime genre, this book is very different
from his earlier novel A Closed Book. As admirers of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd will
guess, Adair's aim here is to poke gentle fun at the closed-circle murder mystery beloved by
writers – and readers – of the Golden Age of detective fiction between the two world wars. It
is Boxing Day, circa 1935, and murder has been committed at snowbound ffolkes Manor, on
the edge of Dartmoor. A thoroughly unpleasant man who calls himself Raymond Gentry has
been found dead in the attic – and his killing presents a locked room mystery of the type
perfected by John Dickson Carr, who gets a name-check on the first page. Luckily, Evadne
Mount, redoubtable author of detective novels, and fierce rival of Dame Agatha, is among the
party of suspects, and she determines to solve the case with the assistance of a local ex-
Scotland Yard man by the name of Trubshaw. There are jokes aplenty, and Evadne's
descriptions of her own fictional story-lines are very enjoyable, but the key reason why this
novel works well is that Adair plots with a dash of ingenuity, and has created in Evadne and
Trubshaw a pair of contrasting yet very likeable characters. The book is described as 'an
entertainment' and it is exactly that.
(
Martin Edwards
- author of the highly acclaimed Harry Devlin Mysteries)
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