Appleby and the Ospreys

Innes' last and least novel. There is an English country house, and a parish, and some humor. There is barely a mystery, and less literary or architectural fun than usual. The ending is cinematic but very brief.

There may be a breaking of the fourth wall, when Lady Judith points out to Sir John that he hankers for his position as an aspiring young detective inspector at the CID. Maybe Innes was suggesting that he would rather be writing about that young man than the elderly, retired version of him.

Alternate title for this book might have been "Appleby's Last Case" since this was his last book in the series. Very light humored and Innes by this time has toned down his erudite style but is still very witty. He was probably conscious that it was the last in the series since the character is almost too aware that he came out of retirement to solve this case The perspective is unusual because usually detectives are gung ho but here he is sedate and accepts the case reluctantly or ambivalently not really wanting to get involved in any real way. Characters very well drawn even if some are a little stereotypical or over the top. All in all four stars.

Language, as always, elegant and erudite, but plot--also as usual--not very interesting; somewhat dated