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The first Golden Age detective novel to feature a serial killer with no rational motive - and surely impossible for Scotland Yard to solve? A long knife with a brilliant but perverted brain directing it is terrorising Holmdale - innocent people are being done to death under the very eyes of the law. After every murder a business-like letter arrives announcing that another 'removal has been carried out', and Inspector Pike of Scotland Yard has nothing to go on but the evidence of the bodies show more themselves and the butcher's own bravado. With clear thinking impossible in the face of such a breathless killing spree, the police make painfully slow progress: but how do you find a maniac who has no rational motive? Philip MacDonald had shown himself in The Noose and The Rasp to be a master of the detective novel. In Murder Gone Mad he raised the stakes with the first Golden Age crime novel to feature a motiveless serial killer prompted only by blood lust - inspired by the real-life case in 1929 of the Düsseldorf Monster - and this time without the familiar Anthony Gethryn on hand to reassure the reader. This Detective Story Club classic is introduced by L. C. Tyler, Chair of the Crime Writers Association and author of the award-winning 'Elsie and Ethelred' crime novels and the John Grey historical mysteries. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Really good prose, well told story, not very satisfying ending.
Honestly I was underwhelmed, as a piece where basically the first serial killer in a book appears it's experimenting with how that works and why someone would kill for thrills rather than have a real motive. left me wanting both more and less. I wanted more about why and wished I hadn't spent my time reading. Honestly I don't remember much about it all but have no regrets for not re-reading to find out again.
I usually like MacDonald but I do not like this one because of what seems to be an anti-feminist tone.
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Must Read Detective Stories (Nick Fuller)
278 works; 2 members
Author Information
47+ Works 1,324 Members
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Misterio (Bruguera) (23)
Colección Naranja (Bruguera) (1501/123)
Crisol (346)
Doubleday Crime Club (1931.23)
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Murder Gone Mad
- Original title
- Murder Gone Mad
- Original publication date
- 1931
- People/Characters
- Detective-Superintendent Arnold Pike
- First words
- There had been a fall of snow in the afternoon.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"For God's sake, has anybody got a whisky and soda?"
// Vintage Books June 1984 paperback edition: "Quite right!" said the waif, and then, looking from one escort to the other, "For God's sake, has anybody got a gasper?" (Underline added to show difference.) - Original language*
- Inglés
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 106
- Popularity
- 306,458
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.54)
- Languages
- English, German, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 8
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 11
