Innes, Michael - The Ampersand Papers (1978)

Review by Nick Fuller

3/5

The mixture of literary manuscripts, piratical treasure and noble eccentrics makes this typical late Innes, with far more speculation than either detection or action as Appleby investigates the fall of an archivist from the North Tower onto his head (and nearly onto Appleby’s). The solution is the usual disappointment found in other late Innes (eg Appleby and Honeybath).

Another country house (actually a Cornish castle). One gets a bit sated by these stories having read them all in serially in a couple of months. Involves valuable papers about the Romantic poets (Shelley, Byron, etc.). Why is it that such things always end up destroyed in books of this sort? Maybe because we never know about them as fact, hence something like the disclaimer that 'all characters are imaginary'. Rather a bore, this mystery that isn't really one, although the castle setting is good.

Wyatt James

I can't add much to what Nick and Wyatt have said: fairly typical anti-climactic late Innes. By this stage in his career Innes seemed to have lost the gift of depicting what people were like and settled for having them tell each other at great length instead. But there is some nice dialogue with the Ampersand butler Ludlow, and Appleby's contact on the local force, Inspector Craig.

Jon.