And Then There Was No One

Evadne Mount #3

by Gilbert Adair

The writer and professional controversialist Gustav Slavorigin is murdered in the small Swiss town of Meiringen during its annual Sherlock Holmes Festival, his body discovered with an arrow through the heart. With a price of ten million dollars on Slavorigin's head, almost none of the Festival's guests can be regarded as above suspicion. Except Evadne Mount, of course, the stubborn amateur sleuth and bestselling crime novelist from Gilbert Adair's "The Act of Roger Murgatroyd" and "A Mysterious Affair of Style". Neither of those two cases, however, prepared her for the jaw-dropping twists of this new investigation, which climaxes at Meiringen's principal tourist attraction, the Reichenbach Falls - the site of Holmes' fatal confrontation with his nemesis, Moriarty ...

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Agatha Christie

258 pages, Hardcover

First published January 8, 2009

About the author

Gilbert Adair was a Scottish novelist, poet, film critic and journalist. Born in Edinburgh, he lived in Paris from 1968 through 1980. He is most famous for such novels as Love and Death on Long Island (1997) and The Dreamers (2003), both of which were made into films, although he is also noted as the translator of Georges Perec's postmodern novel A Void, in which the letter e is not used. Adair won the 1995 Scott Moncrieff Translation Prize for this work.

In 1998 and 1999 Adair was the chief film critic for The Independent on Sunday, where in 1999 he also wrote a year-long column called "The Guillotine." In addition to the films made from his own works, Adair worked on the screenplays for a number of Raúl Ruiz films. Although he rarely spoke of his sexual orientation in public, not wishing to be labelled, he acknowledge in an interview that there were many gay themes in his work. He died from a brain hemorrhage in 2011.

(source: Wikipedia)

Reviews

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tried convincing GR’ers in 2010 to read this scabrous postmodern stab of brilliance, to no avail. I might have more success in 2014 if I sling comparisons to Enrique Vila-Matas and Gilbert Sorrentino in this review. The third and best novel in a trilogy, this novel sees Adair casting himself as protagonist, invited to read his Sherlock fan fiction ‘The Giant Rat of Sumatra’ (printed here—another prime pastiche), in Switzerland as a noxious novelist who exploited 9/11 for his own commercial gain arrives a special guest. A satire of life on the C-list and a self-lacerating performance from Adair, reflecting on his fondness for solipsism and his fading place in the flicking field of postmodernism, and a far more existential form of whodunit, this is Adair’s crowning achievement as a novelist. His prose is more stylish and arch than in previous novels, allowed more space to parry and thrust than in the cosier Evadne Mount books, and the acidic wit on a par with Sorrentino’s Imaginative Qualities of Actual Things. The fact this whole concoction is a ‘genre’ piece is a mere bonus.

[Lyn Elliott · Rating 2 out of 5]

Painfully self-consciously postmodern. Terribly witty.

[Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gilbert Adair, in the third of his Evadne Mount novels, changes tack and disposes with the cosy Christie model subverted successfully in The Act Of Roger Murgatroyd and less so in A Mysterious Affair Of Style, by opting to throw himself into the mix and tell the story of And Then There Was No One (2009) as a fictional memoir. Set in 2011, Adair has found himself at a literary festival in a Swiss town by the Reichenbach Falls, setting for Conan Doyle’s attempt at ridding himself of his popular detective character.

The influence of Sherlock Holmes plays as much a part in And Then There Was No One as that of Agatha Christie has for the triptych of Evadne Mount novels, and fans of Holmes may be interested to know that Adair reproduces, in full from his fictional new book of Sherlock Holmes stories, his take on The Giant Rat Of Sumatra, first mentioned in The Adventure Of The Sussex Vampire (cf The Casebook Of Sherlock Holmes) as “a story for which the world is not yet prepared”.

Read my full review here.

[Nicolas Chinardet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third book in the Evadne Mount trilogy and the best of the lot by far. While the first two were pastiches of Agatha Christie's works (murders in a closed setting with the amateur sleuth solving the mystery), this is a complete UFO of a book.

This time Adair has a go at Sherlock Holmes and, most ruthlessly, at himself. He gets busy wringing all verisimilitude out of his plot in the most meta narrative ever. He has a huge amount of fun in the process and so has the reader. Postmodern indeed!

[Deanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok but have to admit not really into parodies, or books which use well known characters from other books.
It seemed to take ages for the story to start and when it did, it seemed to be over, maybe I missed something. Could have been sleep reading again.

[Chrystyphyr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slipped a little in the final act but for obvious reasons once you’ve read it (dare I say inescapable ones). Still well deserving of 4.5 stars for the humour, the genre bending, the delightfully meta concept. Wish I could’ve read the other two books before this but this was still a really good read by itself.

[keiths · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now this was interesting, it is even more interesting knowing the author's status after the ending of this book.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

these are all extremely entertaining but i think this one has to take the cake for the sheer number of 9/11 jokes and what appears to be the author literally predicting his own death (???)

[Jameson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This really caps off the Evadne trilogy brilliantly if unsatisfyingly. There's much food for thought here, about modernists and postmodernists, authorship, literature and pop fiction, and it does add up to a nearly fun mystery and a nearly poignant drama. Nearly a five star book, all told, you might say.

Adair really let's himself have it. If showy, humble-braggery prose like Adair's or similar's has ever irked you, you owe it to yourself to read this. Adair doesn't, in the end, take himself too seriously. But I fear this book, in which the pasticheur supreme takes himself to task and knocks himself down a peg, will never get the readership it truly deserves.

I haven't even digested the book yet, but I already look forward to re-reading the trilogy in a few years time. Good job, Gilbert.

For fans of metafiction, mysteries, writing, Sherlock, and French to English dictionaries.

(Also, Adair's The Giant Rat of Sumatra is definitely one of the better apocryphal Holmes stories I've read.)

[Ruth Downie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haven't read the other Evadne Mount books but this was a delight. Adair plays with language, convention and genre, delving through layers of fiction as his narrator (one Gilbert Adair, a writer) visits a literary festival within spitting distance of the Reichenbach Falls. There is a full 'Sherlock Holmes' story narrated within the text, and an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery complete with eccentric lady detective in the surrounding novel. I should add that there are plenty of jokes and, in the best of traditions, a great twist at the end.

[Željko Erceg · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK, možda sam ja 'plošni čitatelj', ali sam ipak čitatelj. Možda ovo nije knjiga/trilogija za mene, ali je 'opremljena naslovima i podnaslovima' za široki krug, i neće me zadnjih 10 stranica trilogije navući na preporuku. Molim nek se cijeni da sam ipak pročitao cijelu trilogiju.
Dajem joj 'dvicu' samo zbog vlastita samokritičnog promišljanja 'nije žvaka za seljaka'.

[Andy Howells · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a newcomer to the Evadne Mount series, having recently picked up the final instalment of her trilogy. Fortunately, in "And Then There Was No One," the narrator and author, Gilbert Adair, takes a unique approach by inserting himself into the narrative instead of immediately introducing the protagonist. This decision lends an interesting and enjoyable perspective to the story.

Adair's two previous works featuring Evadne Mount are said to be homages to Agatha Christie, set in the 1930s and 40s, respectively. However, in his third book, Adair cleverly places Mount two years ahead in time (2011) at The Reichenbach Falls, the setting of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous work "The Final Problem," during a Sherlock Holmes convention. As Adair himself participates in the convention and reads a lost Sherlock Holmes story, he crosses paths with his own master sleuth, Evadne Mount.

One of the most distinguished guests at the convention is found murdered. Despite the police being clueless, Evadne Mount is quick to solve the mystery. However, "And Then There Was No One" goes beyond being just a mystery novel. Adair skillfully parodies the concept of a parody while incorporating elements of surrealism, creating a unique and enjoyable reading experience. The author's ability to intertwine his short-term future into the story adds an intriguing layer to the book. "And Then There Was No One" is beautifully written and a true delight to read.

[Ron Kerrigan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I enjoyed (or at least finished) the first two Agatha-Christie-ish books by Adair, but couldn't finish this. It's about a Sherlock Holmes convention in Switzerland and includes a 20-page prologue about the writings of the murder victim which the author says can be skipped (and I wish I had.) Adair is a main character in the story and reads his own 30-page reconstructed Holmes story "The Giant Rat of Sumatra," which I did skip, having an aversion to Holmes stories not written by Doyle. I must admit that the writing is clever -- to a fault. But it's tiresome trying to keep up with the author. I gave up before the victim enters the story.

[Veronica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Achingly post-modern. Adair features as the narrator, attending a Sherlock Holmes conference in Switzerland with his very own fictional character Evadne Mount. He's maybe a bit too pleased with hos own cleverness ut I think that's part of the joke. Lots of in-jokes, cultural references, and meta-fiction. The ending reminded me of the naughty trick Jonathan Coe plays at the end of The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim.

[John Tales from Absurdia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed And Then There was No One.

I wasn't entirely convinced at first - Adair came across as pompous and overly wordy, but that's all part of the joke.

There's some really smart metafictional elements in here, as well as some great parody. It got a genuine chuckle out of me now and then.

That being said, the humour is a little too on the nose. A fun read, and I'll definitely check out Adair's Agatha Christie pastiches.

[amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

No self-reference too convoluted! An author sending up himself sending up Agatha Christie, Nabokov, Arthur Conan Doyle; plus at least 3 stories within the story and one instance of novel-within-novel-within-novel-within-novel.

[Tathagat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Postmodern and funny Af

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half stars. Witty, original and engaging, yet uneven.

[Meredith · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't get on with the style at all. It came across as a writer trying unsuccessfully and too hard to be clever and witty.

I had decided to abandon it entirely when I noticed other reviewers saying there was included a new Sherlock Holmes tale 'the giant rat of Sumatra' which readers of the Holmes canon will recognise as that described as a tale 'for which the world is not prepared.'

I duly skipped up to it (page 58 in this edition) and must say that it is no good, simply in that the answer of the mystery is obvious and in no way meets the description of a tale 'for which the world is not prepared.' When a Holmes story cannot be related for reasons of policy or consideration for those involved, Watson clearly says so. Anyone aspiring to tell 'The giant rat of Sumatra' must therefore reach beyond this device.

Not having read the context, perhaps the writer within the book is meant to have written a poor story. If so, the object was achieved.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Initially was going abandon this one (even skipping the prologue and going straight to chapter one didn't help) but stuck with it. Once I got further in it did improve and I started to enjoy it but then I am a Jasper Fforde fan so... Once I finished I went back and read the prologue - it actually made more sense reading this after the story. However, anyone thinking this is another Christie pastiche like the previous two books in the Evadne Mount series will be sadly disappointed. A lot of the literary references were a bit over my head and I consider myself quite well read. It is set in the present day with the author stepping into the book as the main character. Evadne appears but that is the twist.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This final entry in Gilbert Adair’s postmodern Agatha Christie homage trilogy starring the relentlessly quirky Evadne Mount stretches the rules of the genre until they cry for mercy. It features Adair himself, strong-armed into speaking at a Sherlock Holmes symposium at Reichenbach Falls. After the festival’s controversial mystery guest is murdered in a replica of 221B, Adair is egged into investigating by Evadne herself, plausibly made flesh but possessing the curious ability to bend the text around her into a Christie stereotype. Devolving slowly into madness, from a taut Holmes pastiche to a dramatic final confrontation so consciously textual that asterisks draw blood, Evadne’s finale is sadly Adair’s own. R.I.P.

[Davidberlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cleverest by far of this author's Evadne Mount trilogy - it takes deconstruction further than ever. So clever it may annoy some readers but this author (a favourite of mine) is on top form here. This trilogy is pastcihe, parody and tribute to the Golden Age of British crime fiction.

A special pleasure in this, the final volume of the trilogy), is the creation of one of the Sherlock Holmes stroies referred to by Dr Watson - The Giant Rat of Sumatra.

[Mark Flowers · Rating 4 out of 5]

You'd think this book would be right up my alley, what with the crazy postmodern twists it takes, but there was something that I couldn't put my finger on that I didn't quite like. I see why Adair felt he couldn't do a third Evadne Mount book just like the other two, and I admire him for doing something different, but to be honest, I thought the postmodernism of the first two, while much more subtle, was better done. Oh well - a great trilogy nonetheless.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

And Then There Was No One is the final in the Evadne Mount series. In this book Adair moves into the "present" and plays not just with the genre but with the art of authorship itself and the world of writers and literary festivals.

Whilst not as easy to get into as the first books in the series there is still much pleasure and wit to be had and I have to love a cover that pays homage to both Christie and Doyle's creation Sherlock Holmes!

[Charlie Cochrane · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're expecting a Christie pastiche, this isn't one. Not sure how to describe it - part murder mystery, part pastiche of Conan Doyle, part something like metafiction.

I couldn't get into first time I tried to read it but enjoyed it second time through. As an author, it made me think about the strange relationship between writer and characters!

[Silverblue · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a booooring book! I swear I do sit and read many boring books just to see if the story picks up towards the end and in some cases they do. In this case though, the author tries very hard to be cleaver and witty and I lost interest. What a waste of time resources!

[Pascale · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the very worst books I've ever read. I's all nudge-nudge, wink-wink, aren't I clever? sort of stuff, and every single feeble joke is heavily underscored, in case the reader should miss it. Pathetic.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was wonderfully bizarre. I love this man.

[Lawrence · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some times authors try too hard to be clever and the reader loses interest in following a convoluted plot. when i finished the book I asked myself WHY.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can't decide how much I liked this booked, the idea was a bit abstract.