Murder in the Museum

by John Rowland

Martin Edwards (Introduction)

When Professor Julius Arnell breathes his last in the hushed atmosphere of the British Museum Reading Room, it looks like death from natural causes. Who, after all, would have cause to murder a retired academic whose life was devoted to Elizabethan literature? Inspector Shelley's suspicions are aroused when he finds a packet of poisoned sugared almonds in the dead man's pocket; and a motive becomes clearer when he discovers Arnell's connection to a Texan oil millionaire. Soon another man plunges hundreds of feet into a reservoir on a Yorkshire moor. What can be the connection between two deaths so different, and so widely separated? The mild - mannered museum visitor Henry Fairhurst adds his detective talents to Inspector Shelley's own, and together they set about solving one of the most baffling cases Shelley has ever encountered.

• ISBN10: 1464205809
• ISBN13: 9781464205804
• Publish Date: 3 May 2016 (first published 5 April 2016)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Poisoned Pen Press
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

[MurderByDeath]

Wow, this was really not good.  I started listening to it on audiobook, and meant to DNF it, but my phone doesn't unlock while I'm in the car and I kept forgetting to pick a new book before driving off again.  By the time I got home last night I was 90% finished and thought 'to hell with it', grabbed my print copy, and just finished it off.   What I didn't like: Henry Fairhurst:  He's sort of the co-MC of the book, along with Inspector Shelly.  He's a damp, hen-pecked, Walter Middy sort of fellow; whingey too.   Henry's sister:  every horrible stereotype about single women, crammed into one book.  Truly a horrible character I would not be able to resist smacking in real life.   Inspector Shelly: the other MC of the book, the Scotland Yard Inspector that goes around not only theorising before the facts, but telling all involved in the case that they are the facts, never mind silly things like official coroner reports, or post-mortems, or blood analysis.  Shelly says the man died of cyanide poisoning, then by golly, that's what he died of.  And speaking of cause of death:   The cause of death:  A man does not fall asleep in the British Museum Reading Room and peacefully die from cyanide poisoning mid-snore.  The author was a contemporary of Agatha Christie; I hope she smacked him upside the head with his own book before setting him straight.  Cyanide is a nasty way to die and I'm certain his snoring would have been the least offensive thing everyone in the Reading Room that day would have had to witness.   The writing:  Rowland writes as though he imagines his reader to be an idiot, the result being his characters all sound like idiots.  There are some very Dick and Jane moments in this book.   The plot:  Let me put it this way:  I read cozies, and I thought it was preposterous.     What I liked: The cover.  The title.  The British Museum setting, which ended after page 24.  I gave each 1/2 star, but it was all downhill from there.

[brokentune]

I am throwing in the towel @ 30% because my TBR is way too big to waste time on books I simply cannot enjoy.

What is even more aggravating than actually having bought this one (rather than borrowed from the library) is that there were elements that should have made this book great:

1. The setting: The books starts in the Reading Room at the British Museum. It is one of my favourite places. It has lots of atmosphere. The first murder takes place there. In public, but without any one noticing.

This should have made for a great locked room type mystery.

Instead, there is hardly any scene setting, and the little that is there does not describe anything about the museum or the reading room. Why set it in the Museum then? Why not an indistinguishable coffee house? Or a park?

Also, there is no atmosphere. None! Most of the book seems written in pretty flat dialogue. We don't even get to know any of the characters other than by name and occupation.

2. There are lot of tips of the hat to Sherlock Holmes in this book: A character caller Mr. Henry Baker like in ACD's Blue Carbuncle, the British Museum (which is also mentioned in Blue Carbuncle), and later on (I skip read to the end) the action takes us to Dartmoor where a prisoner escaped (Hound of the Baskervilles much?). Could this be more Sherlockian?

Yes. Yes, it could! Why did the author stop at nicking ACD's characters and settings? Why could he not have copied some of ACD's style, too? It would have infinitely improved this book.

I completely gave up on the book when I got to the following:

In a few minutes he was speaking to the inspector in charge of the City police station at Oxford, and he explained his need for information, having first given the secret police sign which indicates that a fellow limb of the law is making the enquiry.

A secret police sign?!?!? WHY??? They're not even under cover!

This makes no sense.

There was more that made no sense - like the first officer on the scene declaring the cause of death to be poisoning by cyanide. Surely, they must have had some protocol even in 1938 when this was written.

Anyway. Good riddance.