The Hand in the Dark

I found this old mystery overly-long and disappointing. At first, I enjoyed the complex sentences (no one would write in this style nowadays) and the set-up of the story. The characters are well drawn and interesting. About half-way through the book, however, Rees introduces his detective, Colwyn - it's all tedious and downhill from there. Colwyn is a preposterous and uninteresting character. Colwyn finally tricks the guilty party into confessing the crime in detail. While I did not like this… (more)

I found this old mystery overly-long and disappointing. At first, I enjoyed the complex sentences (no one would write in this style nowadays) and the set-up of the story. The characters are well drawn and interesting. About half-way through the book, however, Rees introduces his detective, Colwyn - it's all tedious and downhill from there. Colwyn is a preposterous and uninteresting character. Colwyn finally tricks the guilty party into confessing the crime in detail. While I did not like this book, there may be better titles by Rees. He's not a bad writer (in an old-fashioned sort of way) or plotter. But, I do not personally recommend this book.