A Study in Murder
Robert Ryan
Having read it
★★★★☆
A surprisingly unexpected find in the library and a solid, enjoyable read. It had some good moments and the details that slowly emerged about the camp’s characters and its methods to allow escapes was rather realistic and good. The twist to the escapes was revealed with some good, methodical detective work by Watson. It was all about the money – ever the downfall of corruptible characters!
A good passage
‘... Peering into the darkest corner of the human soul often caused him to recoil in revulsion at the depravity of his fellow man. “What object is served by this circle of misery and violence and fear? It must tend to some end, or else our universe is ruled by chance, which is unthinkable. But what end? There is the great standing perennial problem to which human reason is as far from an answer as ever.”’
A second good passage
Watson has on many occasions pointed out in the newspaper over breakfast a tale that he thought might snap Holmes out of some torpor or other, only to be dismissed with a curt aperçu which put the potential case into context or, just as often, the dustbin. However, leave the same piece of journalism lying around or, indeed, dismiss it oneself, and Holmes might just turn his beady gaze upon it and Watson would almost feel the vibrations of that great brain cranking into action.
A third good passage
[Watkins:] ‘All right, Mycroft. It would give me considerable pleasure to prove the Great Detective wrong.’ He took a bite of the ginger nut to mask his smile. ‘Send him in, will you?’