The Perfect Murder (1964) by H. R. F. KeatingSpoiler Alert! There is NO murder in The Perfect Murder. Sorry about that. But for all of you who might pick this up thinking that this is one of those impossible crimes or that your murder mystery actually has a murder in it, I thought you ought to know. I also think you ought to know that this is (in my opinion) far from the perfect anything--story, crime novel, etc. This is my second outing with Keating writing under his own name* and I have to say that I am beginning to think that he just isn't for me.
But...back to the story. Why, you might ask, is it called "The Perfect Murder" if there's no murder and what we do have going on isn't perfect? Glad you asked. It seems that the secretary of Lala Varde, a prosperous businessman, has been bashed over the head with a candlestick. Lala Varde reported it to the police as a murder--because by his logic someone was trying to murder his secretary, so by golly it's murder. Even if it didn't succeed. The name caught on with the newspapers and such and nobody seems to care that the man really didn't die. The ever-conscientious Inspector Ghote is assigned to the case and is immediately faced with lies, disdain, and corruption.
So...I'll just fess up now and tell you that I did not read every word of this. Not even as much as every other word. Only enough that I decided that I could legitimately count it for a few challenges and I'm shoving this thing off my Mount TBR and sending it back to the library's used book shop where it came from. I skimmed to the end just so I could know what really happened. Kate over at crossexamingingcrime says that Keating is "good at establishing an interesting setting in a culture which readers can identify with but also find difference in." I'm afraid I didn't find this to be the case. I never did settle into the setting that Keating gave us and I certainly didn't warm to the methods of Ghote and the culture surrounding him as represented. And don't even get me started on Lala Varde and his never-ending need to make silly rhymes about everything when talking. No rating because I didn't really read closely enough to hand one out. Others have handed out four and five stars...so your mileage may vary.
*I have also read a couple of his historical mysteries written under the name Evelyn Hervey. I enjoyed those more--handing out three stars.
When I began your review I was wondering if it was one of the ones I had read, but it wasn't ringing any bells, so it was quite a puzzling surprise to find myself quoted on it lol This book definitely hasn't left any memories, which may be of a some comfort to you given how much you disliked it! Looking at my own rating I was somewhat luke warm. Not sure the Ghote novels are for me and it has been a long time since I have read any. I think it may well stay that way...
ReplyDeleteKate, so far I haven't found anything by Keating that I've liked (except his adaptation of Murder by Death--and that wasn't his). I've got two more of his on my TBR (one under his own name and one as Evelyn Hervey)--neither are Ghote novels, so we'll see what I think of them when I get round to them. Not that I'm going to rush to read them...
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