Lament for a Maker (Sir John Appleby, #3) in Reading the Detectives

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Lament for a Maker (Sir John Appleby, #3)

Michael Innes

Start date: August 11, 2018

Finish date: September 9, 2018

Discussion: Buddy reads

Why we're reading this: A buddy read of the third Appleby book by Michael Innes, after several members enjoyed the previous two i…more
[close] A buddy read of the third Appleby book by Michael Innes, after several members enjoyed the previous two in the series.

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What Members Thought

Aug 05, 2018 Susan rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I have been, very slowly, making my way through the Inspector Appleby mysteries and this is the third in the series. With modern novels, I often bemoan the role of the publisher, and editors, in particular. So many modern novels seem to have similar themes 鈥� a plethora of dual time frame historical novels, which crop up like buses, or a similarity in psychological thrillers. Older novels, I tell myself, are more individual and author鈥檚 had more control. Well, in this case, I possibly owe editor鈥� ...more

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Jul 06, 2018 Shabbeer Hassan rated it really liked it

Shelves: whodunit, 2018, thriller

A rather neat mystery thriller with a twist at the ending. The radio adaptation is good too and adds to the story by recreating the ambience wonderfully.

My Rating - 4/5

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Feb 15, 2021 Nancy Oakes rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: septimo-circulo, crime-fiction, 1930s, crime-fiction-uk, 2021

3.8 rounded up to a 4.

full post here:

Right at about page 165 of this book I stopped and made a comment on my goodreads group's "currently reading?" thread in which I said that it seems that everything has been laid out by now, and I'm stumped. Looking back on it now, it turns out that I may have jumped the gun a bit there thinking I had all pertinent information, but I still had no clue, and continued to remain in the dark until the very end. This book i 3.8 rounded up to a 4.

full post here:

Right at about page 165 of this book I stopped and made a comment on my goodreads group's "currently reading?" thread in which I said that it seems that everything has been laid out by now, and I'm stumped. Looking back on it now, it turns out that I may have jumped the gun a bit there thinking I had all pertinent information, but I still had no clue, and continued to remain in the dark until the very end. This book is hands down one of the twistiest and strangest crime novels I've ever read, which is a good thing; at the same time, I had to really work at this one which raised my level of frustration more than once.

The title of this book derives from a poem written by William Dunbar, one of "a group of medieval Scots poets known as the makars" -- or "makers", and according to the niece of the Laird of Echany, it was often chanted by her uncle as he roamed about his castle prior to his death. The haunting last line of each stanza "Timor mortis conturbat me" (fear of death disturbs me") adds to the already Gothic-ish atmosphere provided by the setting, the overall strangeness that pervades this novel, and even the sighting of ghosts by various people. While it was written during the Golden Age, it comes across as an example of an atypical story of this time, which I actually prefer. For me it's a case of the stranger the better.

I quite enjoyed Lament for A Maker which aside from its bizarre story appealed to my puzzle-solver self who loves a challenge, and I definitely got that here. I will also admit that the joke was on me more than once when I thought I had figured it out and hadn't, but I'd much rather things go that way than actually solving a mystery early on. Aside from Innes' The Mysterious Commission which wasn't a John Appleby novel, I haven't read any of his other books, so I'm pretty stoked to read more right now. Yet, as noted earlier, I did have to put a lot of effort into this one. My main issue with this book is that it's not often that I sit with my iPad at the ready while reading a mystery novel -- that's usually what I do while reading nonfiction or more esoteric, out-there kind of books -- but here it was almost a necessity, at least at first, since the entire first chapter was offered in a Scots dialect causing much frustration and necessitating multiple google visits. It took me a while to warm up to this story, but in the long run, it was well worth it.

Readers who make it through that first chapter will find a fine puzzler here, so don't give up.
...more

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May 10, 2014 Leslie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mysteries, british

This 3rd book in the Inspector Appleby series is very different in style from the first two. This style is similar to Wilkie Collins; the story is told in a series of first person narratives. Unfortunately, the first narrative by Ewan Bell is written in a Scots English that almost made me give up on this before I had read 25 pages. I am so glad that I didn't! The case kept getting more and more complex and the ending was a great surprise - Innes really came up with a wonderful plot. ...more

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Feb 08, 2013 Damaskcat rated it really liked it

When I first started reading this book I wasn鈥檛 sure whether I was ever going to finish it as I just couldn鈥檛 get into it. But I persevered having enjoyed the first two books in the Appleby series and I did find it interesting a well written. It is not a conventional crime novel and is nothing like the first two books in the series. It is narrated in seven sections by some of the people involved in the story 鈥� one of which is Appleby himself though he only makes a brief appearance in the second ...more

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Aug 13, 2018 Sandy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle-unl-read, mystery-classic, mystery-detective-grp, rread-2018

After a very annoying beginning narrative (the Scottish dialect was unintelligible to me) this turned into an interesting story. I enjoyed the different views of the situation as each narrator arrives on the scene. The plot has an incredible number of twists, each plausible.

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Jul 08, 2018 John Frankham rated it really liked it

Shelves: crime-detective

This has never been a favourite of mine - the third of 48 wonderfully funny, intriguing, and erudite whodunnits, most, as this, with Sir John Appleby of Scotland Yard. With multiple narrators, the topping (75 pages out of 235) and tailing by a canny but rambling scotsman is rather off-putting, but once through that it has a twisting plot that amazes. Good fun.

The GR blurb:

'When mad recluse, Ranald Guthrie, the laird of Erchany, falls from the ramparts of his castle on a wild winter night, Appleb ...more

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Mar 05, 2011 Bev rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, vintage-mystery, british-mystery, mount-tbr-2014

Lament for a Maker (1938) would seem--from ratings on 欧宝娱乐 and in the opinion of such fellow mystery writers as Nicholas Blake and Michael Gilbert--to be considered one of Michael Innes' best books. While I will agree that the mystery itself is quite nicely twisty and surprising, the journey he takes the reader on to get to that brilliant, twisty ending is a rather arduous one. The tale is told through the narratives of various characters--five in all, including his detective John Appleby-- Lament for a Maker (1938) would seem--from ratings on 欧宝娱乐 and in the opinion of such fellow mystery writers as Nicholas Blake and Michael Gilbert--to be considered one of Michael Innes' best books. While I will agree that the mystery itself is quite nicely twisty and surprising, the journey he takes the reader on to get to that brilliant, twisty ending is a rather arduous one. The tale is told through the narratives of various characters--five in all, including his detective John Appleby--and wading through the Scots dialect of the opening narrative nearly put me off entirely. There is also a bit too much extraneous detail about matters that don't really move the story along to suit me.

At the heart of the book is the death of the eccentric recluse Ranald Guthrie the laird of Erchany who falls from the ramparts of his castle on a wild winter night. Suspicion initially rests on the young man who wished to marry Guthrie's niece, but the stories told by each of our narrators prove that there is more to the events of Christmas Eve than meets the eye. Did Guthrie commit suicide in the hopes of ruining the young man? Who was the shadowy figure seen by Miss Guthrie, the American cousin? Why was Guthrie's man Hardcastle looking for the Doctor when Miss Guthrie and Noel Gylby (stranded travelers in a snowstorm) approached Erchany? It will take the narratives of five people involved in the mystery to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. Each time Appleby thinks the picture has been completed, another handful of puzzle pieces are brought to the table.

Worth reading for the mystery itself, but not, to my mind, one of Innes' absolute best. I've rated Death at the President's Lodgings, The Weight of the Evidence, and The Long Farewell each higher. I did enjoy being fooled by the final twist and I found the narrative threads by Noel Gylby and Appleby to be the most entertaining. Overall: 鈽呪槄鈽�

First posted on my blog . Please request permission before reposting. Thanks. ...more

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Aug 03, 2018 Jill rated it it was ok

Shelves: michael-innes

This was such a hard read! The first part, almost 50 pages was in Scottish. I think the author just wanted to add as many Scottish words that he could. This caused a lot of rereading to try to understand just what was going on . The narration changes multiple times, which really seemed to me to be too many. The rest of the book was not bad , but there was a lot of rambling. The first of this series I did like, the second I found wasn't as good and this has got to the worst . Not sure that I want ...more

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