Review by Nick Fuller
4/5
“Art and literature and acquisitiveness. But mostly, of course, acquisitiveness.”
This is good Innes — a believable yet interesting plot, omitting his usual touch of fantasy. He gives the reader a look into the world of art and art collectors — and, of course, of forgeries. The forgeries are original, however, for they are forged forgeries, as befits a lunatic with a sense of humour. Innes’s own humour comes principally through surreal touches: an eye in a bin, and the second body found under The Destruction of Carthage. The story is the right length (144 pages) for the tale, and fast-moving (as Appleby himself coments, “Quite a lot seems to have been happening at high speed in this bad business.”) Unfortunately, the ending comes too abruptly, and the murderers are both too obvious and not properly explained.
Great title, too.
Nice vintage Appleby, not excessively erudite. A favorite Innes theme: forgery (literature and art), in this case including a forgery of a famous forger's work of a poem by Meredith. Collectors shown up as greedy and close-mouthed (hence the title, based on the sign in a Club library). A straightforward but clever swindle conspiracy. Two ruthless murders, but easy to solve as there are few suspects (except the whole rest of the world if you ignore the detective story rule that all the suspects must be portrayed).
Wyatt James
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