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A review by robinwalter
Death Among The Sunbathers by E.R. Punshon
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
"Constable Bobby Owen is less in evidence in this novel than he was in Information Received"
That phrase from Curtis Evans' introduction to Death Among the Sunbathers may be both technically true and somewhat misleading. In the first Bobby Owen story, Information Received, a count on my Kobo Sage tells me the name "Owen" occurs 33 times in the body of the story. In this one, it occurs 200 times. This is very much a Bobby Owen mystery, even if the exact nature of his involvement is somewhat different.
I don't read mysteries with the primary goal of figuring them out, but when I do work out a key element, that's a bonus. So it was for me here, where the surprising use of the word "red" in a very specific context gave me my "Eureka!" moment. Not super early, and definitely not as early as more astute readers would, but well before the point at which even the corpse would have deduced it, so I'm counting that a win.
I read mysteries primarily for entertainment, and I'm scoring this one 4.5/5 because it delivered that in spades. It was fun to read because many passages in the book made it seem likely that Punshon found it fun to write. Here are a few of my favourite examples.
That phrase from Curtis Evans' introduction to Death Among the Sunbathers may be both technically true and somewhat misleading. In the first Bobby Owen story, Information Received, a count on my Kobo Sage tells me the name "Owen" occurs 33 times in the body of the story. In this one, it occurs 200 times. This is very much a Bobby Owen mystery, even if the exact nature of his involvement is somewhat different.
I don't read mysteries with the primary goal of figuring them out, but when I do work out a key element, that's a bonus. So it was for me here, where the surprising use of the word "red" in a very specific context gave me my "Eureka!" moment. Not super early, and definitely not as early as more astute readers would, but well before the point at which even the corpse would have deduced it, so I'm counting that a win.
I read mysteries primarily for entertainment, and I'm scoring this one 4.5/5 because it delivered that in spades. It was fun to read because many passages in the book made it seem likely that Punshon found it fun to write. Here are a few of my favourite examples.
The only visitors had been hopeful artists – tautology, all artists are either hopeful or dead –
Women don’t change their style of doing their hair the way you change your tie, they change it the way you change your religion – weeks of preparation, consultation, debate, hesitation, terror lest your chances in one world or the other will suffer for it.
what the Press says to-day, the public said the day before yesterday. Then the public knows it was right all the time
a chef who really understood the art of cooking – as shown by bad French on a menu, innumerable sauces differing chiefly in name and colour, and a resolute determination that nothing should appear at table resembling itself either in taste or appearance.
Yearningly he wished he were the ideal detective of popular imagination, chiefly engaged on examining the scene of the crime through a large magnifying glass, identifying invisible finger-prints, brilliantly deducing from infallible signs on a burnt match-stick the age, height, name and address, and political opinions of the user.
The actual mystery was surprisingly straightforward in its motive and intent, if complicated and obfuscated by villains not over-endowed with cerebral capacity. Overall, an entertaining and relaxing read, good for a few chuckles and for Bobby Owen's invisible hand everywhere.