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Experiment with Death
When Sam Partlett joined the staff at the Institute of Pomology at King's Weltham, he brought nothing but discord. But it was not Sam who was found dead at the Institute, throat slashed with one of the laboratory razors. In the close-knit scientific community, Inspector Day quietly sets to work to probe the secrets of people busy with different experiments - but has someone carried out an experiment with death?'One of the best contemporary writers of civilised murder mysteries' The Times
- GenresMystery
188 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1981
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About the author
E.X. Ferrars
57 books22 followersAka Elizabeth Ferrars
Elizabeth Ferrars is a pseudonym of Morna Doris MacTaggart Brown. She was born in Rangoon, Burma.
Elizabeth Ferrars is a pseudonym of Morna Doris MacTaggart Brown. She was born in Rangoon, Burma.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 29, 2022
Guy Lampard, the Director of the King's Weltham Institute of Pomology, is a two-sided coin. To those he likes and those he can play Lord Bountiful to, he is a great man. He can be kind and generous--helping out a colleague whose wife needs to be kept in an expensive healthcare facility, for instance. But Dr. Jekyll has his Hyde and so does Lampard. To those he dislikes, he is everything from a mere hindrance to evil incarnate. He takes great delight in pitting certain colleagues against each other and watching the feathers fly. And when he hires an old "friend" Sam Partlett to join the institute, it becomes apparent that he just missed tormenting Partlett. Partlett is susceptible to alcohol and can get quite violent when in his cups. Lampard loves pouring the drinks and then watching the fur fly.
When Lampard is found in his office with his throat cut, there are plenty of suspects--from Partlett to Bill Carver who was passed over for the position which Partlett was given to Roger, the Assistant Director, who some say was competing with Lampard for the affections of Dr. Emma Ritchie (and who the police seem to think would just step into the Director's shoes now that they're empty) to whomever Partlett thought was pilfering the drug supply and selling barbiturates on the side. But having plenty of suspects doesn't help when everyone seems to have an alibi and no one can explain who changed the clocks in the various labs and why. The police seem to have chose Roger as the hot favorite. Emma is sure that Roger didn't do it and Roger thinks he knows who did but can't see where the proof is. And then there's another death and Roger asks a simple question. He thinks his solution answers that question...but Emma isn't so sure.
An interesting closed circle mystery with an academic feel even though the institute isn't, strictly speaking, an academic institution. It is a research facility focused on apples--though it really could be any school or research center with the standard allotment of jealousy and grievances. We throw "pomology" about when speaking of the institute, but the only real reference to the work with apples is the running theme of Emma trying to write an article on the effects of carbon dioxide concentrations on apples (and not getting very far...). Otherwise, the purpose of the facility is pretty irrelevant to the story.
The issue of the clocks is a clever twist on the whole "change the time" thing. When is an alibi not an alibi and yet can prove that someone didn't do it? Ferrars is a competent plotter and produces an accurate portrayal of the insular world of the research facility. But somehow her books always lack a certain something that would propel them into the four or five star range. They're good, solid mysteries but the characters, while given distinct personalities, just don't make you care all that much about them.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting portions of review. Thanks.
When Lampard is found in his office with his throat cut, there are plenty of suspects--from Partlett to Bill Carver who was passed over for the position which Partlett was given to Roger, the Assistant Director, who some say was competing with Lampard for the affections of Dr. Emma Ritchie (and who the police seem to think would just step into the Director's shoes now that they're empty) to whomever Partlett thought was pilfering the drug supply and selling barbiturates on the side. But having plenty of suspects doesn't help when everyone seems to have an alibi and no one can explain who changed the clocks in the various labs and why. The police seem to have chose Roger as the hot favorite. Emma is sure that Roger didn't do it and Roger thinks he knows who did but can't see where the proof is. And then there's another death and Roger asks a simple question. He thinks his solution answers that question...but Emma isn't so sure.
An interesting closed circle mystery with an academic feel even though the institute isn't, strictly speaking, an academic institution. It is a research facility focused on apples--though it really could be any school or research center with the standard allotment of jealousy and grievances. We throw "pomology" about when speaking of the institute, but the only real reference to the work with apples is the running theme of Emma trying to write an article on the effects of carbon dioxide concentrations on apples (and not getting very far...). Otherwise, the purpose of the facility is pretty irrelevant to the story.
The issue of the clocks is a clever twist on the whole "change the time" thing. When is an alibi not an alibi and yet can prove that someone didn't do it? Ferrars is a competent plotter and produces an accurate portrayal of the insular world of the research facility. But somehow her books always lack a certain something that would propel them into the four or five star range. They're good, solid mysteries but the characters, while given distinct personalities, just don't make you care all that much about them.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting portions of review. Thanks.
October 21, 2018
Some people think Guy Lampard, director of a pomology institute, is the nicest man in the world. Some think he's a terrible person. One of the scientists there, Emma Ritchie, who has known him for a long time and likes him, realizes that he is probably both. When Guy is murdered in his office, Emma is afraid that Roger, the assistant director, the man she loves, will be suspected, which he is. But Roger asks a question that no one else has thought about. The problem is that he and Emma have different answers.
May 11, 2010
Was a fun read. Fun style. Fairly predictable, only listened to it cause we had it on the computer. But was pretty ok.
March 7, 2014
good whodunit with nice twist in the end
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews