Reading the Detectives discussion

Welcome to our Nov 25 group read Post After Post-Mortem by E.C.R. Lorac Book 11 in the Robert Macdonald series was first published in 1936.

The Surrays, a husband and wife and their five offspring, are a prolific writer family, having published scores of novels, reviews and treatises. Ruth, the middle sister, has, however, recently given her elder brother, Richard, some cause for concern. Richard, a psychiatrist, has seen that Ruth appears to be experiencing stress, and he recommends to their mother that she attempt to persuade Ruth to go on holiday with her. However, before this can take place, Ruth is discovered dead in her bedroom at her parents' house, complete with sleeping pills, a farewell letter, and a new will, all of which are strong indicators that she committed suicide. Following the inquest, which produces the anticipated result, Richard returns to his own house where he discovers a letter from Ruth that was written the evening of her passing but wasn't sent right away. In the letter, Ruth appears to be quite content and is making plans for the forthcoming week. Although he does not want to worry his family further, especially his mother, Richard feels compelled to share the contents of the letter with an acquaintance, Inspector Macdonald of the Yard. Macdonald agrees that there is cause to examine Ruth's death further.

Ruth, a clever intellectual with much to say in her novels about the human condition but emotionally unsophisticated and even repressed in her private life, was somewhat of a paradox. Macdonald is soon persuaded that her death was murder and has a number of suspects to consider. On the surface, it would appear that the members of this happy family had no cause to murder a cherished sibling, but Macdonald suspects that more than one of them is concealing something. In addition to the family, three people whom Ruth had invited to a modest home party were involved in her literary profession in some manner, and these too are reluctant to give Macdonald information. Is this reticence designed merely to shield the family from further misery, or does someone have a more sinister reason?

Please feel free to post spoilers in this thread.

While I certainly enjoy any time spent with MacDonald, I thought this was a bit drawn out. There seemed to be endless questioning of the same people with the same questions. I suppose Fellowes, the one who fell into the pool. was a red herring to make the publisher look guilty. He never surfaced (small joke) again. The lady artist seemed to have no purpose at all; she was never even suspected. So much was made of the family being 'intellectual'.

The resolution was excellent. The murderer had a legitimate motive, if one can have a legitimate motive for murder, as well as the means and skill. Ruth was culpable for being high-handed when her help was sought. I wasn't sure why the poisoning of the brother would make him look guilty?

The sidekick, Reeves, and his interactions with the obnoxious explorer was a treat. I hope the younger sister does travel to Canada so that affair has a chance to cool down.

I agree that this was not her best. I thought it was interesting as an early novel revolving around writers and a 'sort of' literary circle. I also enjoyed poor Reeves and I was delighted he finally got to arrest his man! Poor thing, being shut in a cupboard.

I really enjoyed this - I think Lorac/Carnac/Rivett is an excellent writer or mysteries. Her plots are good and her characters are well rounded. I am constantly amazed that her work is not better known. Perhaps the normality of her detectives, rather than the flamboyance of the likes of Poirot, is the reason. I prefer the normality of the likes of MacDonald but I appreciate perhaps he doesn't have the same draw as Poirot and his little grey cells.

I thought this was well plotted although I do agree that the "author" trait was rather set aside after the beginning. I don't think that bothered me much as I find the market is a little flooded with books about authors/bookshops/libraries etc at the moment.

I like MacDonald and Reeves as a team and I loved the little battle between Reeves and Brandon. The only thing I didn't really like was the very ending. It is definitely a common thing in this era for the murderer to die or be 'allowed' to commit suicide before they come to trial. I appreciate that the embolism from sheer fury in this one was better than many but it never seems quite right. I wonder though if it is because the authors themselves found the death penalty distasteful?

Thanks for the suggestion - an all round good book!

Craftyhj wrote: "I wonder though if it is because the authors themselves found the death penalty distasteful?"

I have often thought that was the reason the authors dispatched their murderers before the law got involved. Only a theory.

Sandy wrote: "Craftyhj wrote: "I wonder though if it is because the authors themselves found the death penalty distasteful?"

I have often thought that was the reason the authors dispatched their murderers befor..."

... or because they thought their readers would not like the idea, especially when it was a villain in which the authors had invested some characterisation effort to make him/her interesting.

sabagrey wrote: "Sandy wrote: "Craftyhj wrote: "I wonder though if it is because the authors themselves found the death penalty distasteful?"

I have often thought that was the reason the authors dispatched their m..."

This is definitely true in some cases. The one that has always sat badly with me, given the time in which it was written, is Peril at End House by Agatha Christie. The character who is finally revealed as the murderer was so truly rotten in character that I suspect Agatha Christie may well have experienced some backlash with her ending of that one.

I also wasn't a big fan of this one-it just didn't engage me the way previous Lorac mysteries have. The family seemed too perfect, the detection was as Sandy described-rather endless-and while the resolution was interesting, it didn't make up for the other issues. I'll continue to read Lorac as I've enjoyed everything else of hers that I've read.

I agree the resolution was interesting, but I felt as if it came somewhat out of the blue - I don't think we had been told much about Stanwood's wife dying, or about him asking Ruth for help in the past, had we?

I was also a bit puzzled by the Ruth/Brandon relationship - it sounded as if she was in love with him but wouldn't agree to have sex with him, but I don't think it was explained if she just hated the idea altogether or wanted to wait for marriage. It seemed quite strange that Naomi would get involved with him at all, knowing her sister was in love with him. Even if the love triangle didn't quite ring true, though, I do always really enjoy Lorac's writing.

There's a lot about several characters feeling very tired and being unable to sleep in this book - it's mentioned so much that I'm slightly wondering if the author was having trouble sleeping and couldn't resist writing about it!

Also bit odd that we had two Roberts in this one, Macdonald and one of the Surray family. A good job that Macdonald is always referred to by his surname.

Writing my previous post, it just struck me that Ruth and Naomi are totally devoted in the Bible. So the names in this novel have an irony to them, as the sisters' relationship is very different from the Biblical one between their namesakes.

This is one of the better Loracs I have read. I thought the amount of complexity was just right--sometimes mysteries from this era have so much going on in the plot that it's overwhelming. Here, I was able to keep track of the characters and what they have (or have not done), but I couldn't figure out who had done it. We had a little bit of information about Stanwood's wife's death, mainly that she died before he finally found success. But I'm pretty sure we hadn't learned about his asking Ruth for help. I like the idea that Lorac was suffering from insomnia!

Thanks for confirming you don't think we had anything about Stanwood asking Ruth for help, Ninie. Ironic that she started helping him later on...