Got through the last of the Marsh books I had out from the library. (So many that it’s kind of a relief not to have any more to read for a while.) A couple were okay and a couple were not as good. The not so good ones were A Wreath for Rivera and Spinsters in Jeopardy. The first wasn’t so good because of the attempt at transcribing the jazz/swing scene of the first half of the 20th century. I’ve never seen this done well even when someone isn’t mocking it. It always comes across as being ridiculous. The mystery itself was pretty good, though I figured it out right quick. If one picks up on the crucial bit of evidence, it’s impossible not to get it. Spinsters in Jeopardy wasn’t so good because it was a bit far-fetched. All mysteries are, to a degree, of course, but this one was a bit above the odds. Bizarre cults mixed up with drug smuggling and the benign kidnapping of the detective’s son all combined to make the mixture a bit too rich.
Photo Finish and Light Thickens were not too bad. The first had one fantastical element (which I can overlook) which, if I tell you what it is might spoil the plot, but the solution was honest and yet had me fooled. The latter book was actually Marsh’s last and it returns to the Dolphin Theater where another book was set (Killer Dolphin) and it uses a few of the earlier characters. I felt after reading this that I should have pegged the solution right away, but I didn’t. I’ll blame it on being tired when I read it. When considered, there is really only one option and the problem is to figure out how the murderer did it.
Neh 