Maura (maura853) -
Very enjoyable period piece: Mr. Smallbone is discovered, filed under D for "dead," in the offices of a London law firm where previously the worst thing to ever happen was incorrectly addressing one of their clients in the lesser nobility and middle gentry.
As a mystery, it was thoroughly ok, but as with many of these classic crime novels, reissued by the British Library, much of the "charm" is in the period details (both good and ill). Gilbert can't help but capture the nuance of life in London, shortly after the end of World War II, because ... he was living it. Like his characters, he would have been subject to its expectations, privations, limitations. Fortunately for us (and, I suspect for him), Gilbert seems to have been a little more self- and culturally-aware than many of us would have been, and therefore able to reflect on the solicitors, their secretaries, the investigating police officers, and the others who cross their paths with a sharp eye and a very nice, waspish sense of humour, which makes this very readable, and highly recommended.
As a mystery, it was thoroughly ok, but as with many of these classic crime novels, reissued by the British Library, much of the "charm" is in the period details (both good and ill). Gilbert can't help but capture the nuance of life in London, shortly after the end of World War II, because ... he was living it. Like his characters, he would have been subject to its expectations, privations, limitations. Fortunately for us (and, I suspect for him), Gilbert seems to have been a little more self- and culturally-aware than many of us would have been, and therefore able to reflect on the solicitors, their secretaries, the investigating police officers, and the others who cross their paths with a sharp eye and a very nice, waspish sense of humour, which makes this very readable, and highly recommended.
