Review: The pleasure of old mysteries
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 22, 2013
There is always something fascinating in mysteries of 100 years ago: how come we are so different nowadays, and in a way, more sophisticated? The author shoots himself in the foot because when the story starts, we know who are the good guys and the bad guys and what the problem is (one lawyer stole the money of his firm) and we guess that the good guys will win, we just cannot guess how. So that takes a lot of surprise out of the mystery, and I took one star off because of it.On the other hand, I enjoyed the outdated style and the invention of interesting twists. A few characters are rigidly good or bad with no depth, but others are described in a very original way. For instance, the bad guy (the bad lawyer) cannot resist stealing money, but appears to be a good family man. The other lawyer in the firm (the victim) is a good family man, but he is lazy and weak of character; he is paralyzed by any difficulty: that character is unforgettable.According to reviewer Ken Korczak, there is also a real-life story within the book. Read his review.Altogether, the book takes a bit of patience to read, but it is rewarding.