annieb123
Written on Jan 7, 2019
Appleby Talks Again is a re-release of the 15th book in the Inspector Appleby series. Written by Michael Innes and originally published in 1954, this collection of 16 stories, one novella, and a chapter excerpt, is now reformatted and available to a new generation of classic mystery readers.
The Appleby books are humorous light reading. Most of them are pastiches having the format of Sir John at a party or other social occasion, retelling what happened previously concerning a case. Many of these included stories are very cleverly constructed and the short format means that the plotting is very spare and fast paced. I was interested to see that the ersatz art dealer Mr. Braunkopf makes cameo appearances in several of these stories. He (Braunkopf a.k.a Hildebert Brown) first appeared in the very first Appleby mystery, 1952's A Private View (One Man Show in the USA).
The included stories in this collection are a mixed lot, but I would put the majority in the 3.5 - 4.5 star range. They are humorous, light, comical, and quintessentially British. There is nothing objectionable or graphic.
I enjoyed them all.
Worth noting for Kindle Unlimited subscribers many (most) of the Inspector Appleby books are available for download in the KU subscription for free.
Four stars, comfort reading.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.