A review of The Long Farewell by Michael Innes

A classic and fun British mystery…

I had read a few Michael Innes/Inspector Appleby books many (many) years ago in paperback, and remember them favorably, but without much detail.  And I usually have a soft spot for British mysteries anyway, so I was happy to receive a review copy of The Long Farewell from the publisher.   It’s about half-way through the series, which appears to be being re-issued in e-book.

One of the things I tend to like about British mysteries is the sly, dry, and sometimes quirky, British humor that is often a characteristic of the genre.   And The Long Farewell is a great example of this.   In fact, for me, the sharp, slightly academic writing style (which makes sense since the author was also an academic himself), is good enough that I could have enjoyed the book just for that.  However, I also found the plot amusing and engaging.

In older British mysteries, I sometimes get a little uncomfortable with the clear divisions between classes, but this book is not too bad in that regard.   I get uncomfortable with the same thing even in many Agatha Christie books, but usually put up with it, treating them a bit like historical mysteries, and understanding that that attitude was often a characteristic of the times.    If this is a big issue for you, however, you are forewarned…

All-in-all, though, I flew through The Long Farewell, and I hope to read (re-read) more Michael Innes e-books in the future.  Please note that for me, 4 stars out of 5 is a really solid “read-this-book” ranking, since I try to fight star-flation a little bit and not give out too many 5-star rankings.  And once again, my thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the review copy.

Oh, and I have a review of another Appleby book, Hare Sitting Up, posted on my blog as well.

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