Money from Holme

by Michael Innes

Sebastian Holme was a painter who, as the exhibition catalogue recorded, had met a tragic death during a foreign revolution. Art dealer, Braunkopf, has made a small fortune from the exhibition. Unfortunately, Holme turns up at the private view in this fascinating mystery of the art world in which Mervyn Cheel, distinguished critic and pointillist painter, lands in very hot water.

Genres: Crime, Mystery

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Michael Innes was the pseudonym of John Innes MacKintosh (J.I.M.) Stewart (J.I.M. Stewart).

He was born in Edinburgh, and educated at Edinburgh Academy and Oriel College, Oxford. He was Lecturer in English at the University of Leeds from 1930 - 1935, and spent the succeeding ten years as Jury Professor of English at the University of Adelaide, South Australia.

He returned to the United Kingdom in 1949, to become a Lecturer at the Queen's University of Belfast. In 1949 he became a Student (Fellow) of Christ Church, Oxford, becoming a Professor by the time of his retirement in 1973.

As J.I.M. Stewart he published a number of works of non-fiction, mainly critical studies of authors, including Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling, as well as about twenty works of fiction and a memoir, 'Myself and Michael Innes'.

As Michael Innes, he published numerous mystery novels and short story collections, most featuring the Scotland Yard detective John Appleby.

Reviews

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a mystery at all but it is a 'crime' story. Mervyn Cheel, the protagonist, is a frustrated artist and critic with some slimy aspects to his character (not that he sees himself that way!). He discovers what he believes to be a foolproof way to make money from Sebastian Holme, a much better artist than Cheel. But things don't work out as Cheel anticipated.

Very funny in places, especially the ending! Plus I loved running into Braunkopf, the art dealer, again (he is a few of the Inspector Appleby books) - his fractured English is hilarious (for example, saying Holme was deranged meaning divorced).

[Rosemary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sleazy art critic Mervyn Cheel is at the opening of an exhibition at a small gallery when he sees the artist, who is supposed to be dead. The paintings are commanding high prices because of the artist's untimely death in an African revolution, so Cheel sees an opportunity to make some money out of the man's reappearance.

A black comedy crime caper that works well enough but seems very dated now. It has its moments, but Innes wrote better books than this.

[Catsalive · Rating 2 out of 5]

A clever, black comedy. The slimy Howard Cheel tries to take advantage of an active con but things backfire for him. Not as enjoyable as some of the Applebys that I've read, but I do enjoy these earlier crime novels because they aren't filled with reams of descriptive passages & internal ruminations. In this spare prose we know exactly what Cheel's motivations are & how his mind works without & extra 200 pages of rambling.

[John Stotesbury · Rating 1 out of 5]

Typically 1960s in tone -- racist, sexist, classist. I struggled to rea its few pages to their end, and the ending was less plausible than the bulk of the narrative! As far as I can see, the novel isn't listed in the Michael Innes/JIM Stewart Wikipedia entry, and rightly so. A product of its age, is the best that perhaps can be said.

[Fiona · Rating 2 out of 5]

Of its time so this book does not read well in the 21st century. However, the ending, although seeming rushed, was a twist!

[Simon Mcleish]

Originally published on my blog here in October 2001.

Like several other minor Innes novels, this one seems to have been suggested by the pun which makes up its title. Sebastian Holme was a painter, who found genius when inspired by the African country of Wamba, only to die in the course of a coup. The value of his paintings has of course increased massively, and the variety of rather unpleasant characters who appear in the novel have one thing in common: the desire to make money from Holme.

The main character, critic Mervyn Cheele, is particularly unpleasant in a small time kind of way, and he things that he has discovered that Holme is still alive, posing as his brother Gregory. He tries to blackmail him into recreating some paintings destroyed in the revolution, knowing that their value is at its height.

Cheele is only the worst of a bad lot, and there is no one with whom a reader might want to identify in this novel. It is also very inconclusive, and is enigmatic about what is going on in a way which is annoying in a thriller; it is as though Innes became bored and couldn't quite decide what to do with his story.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Art critic Melvin Cheel is not a likeable man. When he discovers that Sebastian Holme, the new darling of the art world, tragically dead too young, is really alive, he looks for a way to make some money for himself. Cheel has a cynical view of people, but it proves to be not quite cynical enough, as a variety of his schemes come unwound at once, leaving him better off than he deserves to be, but not nearly as well off as he wants to be. Dark, dry humor, but not much crime.

[Kathryn Jennex · Rating 2 out of 5]

A short little story about a mis-fit art critic and a small cicrcle of people in the 1960's art world in London.

Funny and a quick read.