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The Silent House Paperback – April 10, 2009
- Print length328 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherBibliolife
- Publication dateApril 10, 2009
- Dimensions5 x 0.69 x 8 inches
- ISBN-101103943561
- ISBN-13978-1103943562
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Product details
- Publisher : Bibliolife (April 10, 2009)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 328 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1103943561
- ISBN-13 : 978-1103943562
- Item Weight : 12.6 ounces
- Dimensions : 5 x 0.69 x 8 inches
- Customer Reviews:
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The plot is heavily peopled with suspicious characters: the frivolous young widow of the murdered man, who shows a lively interest in the insurance money; a suble Italian count who seems all too fond of the widow; the suspicious lodger in the house in back of the haunted house who disappears just after the murder; a monkey-like doctor who owns an insane asylum and has a strange friendship with the count; and the clever red-headed gypsy servant girl who seems to know something about something.
One by one the suspects keep demonstrating their innocence and frustrating Lucian's efforts. The identity of the murderer, finally, took me by surprise.
The fun of this mystery revolves around the many plot twists. The characters are not all that deep, but they have a vintage charm. I liked Lucien's spinster landlady, for example, who's hopelessly enamored with his youth and good looks. The frivolous young widow is fun, too, with her cartoonish American accent.
If you're interested in minor works of Edwardian detective fiction, as I am, I think you might enjoy The Silent House. It was first published in 1907.
Excellent story by a favorite author.
Top reviews from other countries
The story has many twists and turns and plenty of surprises. Some of them seem a bit contrived (to say the least) compared with the sophisticated offerings of today, but there is enough there to keep one interested and wanting to know the solution to the mystery. Hume is very good at evoking place and atmosphere and his characters are always colourful and interesting and usually psychologically convincing, too. He claimed that some of the strangest of them were taken from life, fact being stranger than fiction.
It would be a shame to judge Fergus Hume by this book. It isn't one of his best, but it is still enjoyable and entertaining. It certainly deserves four stars. The occasional somewhat unconvincing twists in the plot and the too-frequent use of coincidence prevented it from getting five stars from me. I still love Fergus Hume's books, though!