line

CM Archive
CM Archive Book Review line
CALL BACK

Sara Woods.

Toronto, Lester & Orpen Dennys, c1983.
191pp, cloth, $14.95.
ISBN 0-88619-003-7.


Grades 12 and up.

Reviewed by Elinor Kelly.

Volume 12 Number 6
1984 November


Sara Woods's forty-somethingth mystery shows a sad falling off in quality in the work of this once favourite writer of detective fiction.

The plot is based on discredited and unscientific views of hypnotism and reincarnation of the Bridie Murphy sort. The legal London setting and the familiar characters, the noble Anthony, his irascible uncle, his faithful wife, have all lost their sparkle. There is no build-up of suspense and no doubt about the guilty. No mystery. No excitement. The once witty exchanges in conversation have grown tedious.

Read the early ones over again if you tire of sex and violence and like puzzles. This is not recommended, and it is too bad because there is a need, felt by insatiable readers, for this kind of mystery.


Elinor Kelly, Port Hope, ON.
line indexes

HOME | TITLES | AUTHORS | MEDIA | AGE/GRADE | FEATURES

1971-1979 | 1980-1985 | 1986-1990 | 1991-1995

line

The materials in this archive are copyright © The Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission Copyright information for reviewers

Young Canada Works

cm@umanitoba.ca