Dorothy L. Sayer's The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club is quite the opposite: a pleasant little read, in traditional, British-cuppa-by-the-fireside fashion. Written in 1928, it's in league with Dame Agatha and other contemporaries of that era. (The afterward notes that the 1920s were the golden era of detective fiction.)
So...elderly General Fentiman is found dead in his favorite chair in his favorite club on Armistice Day. Having suffered from heart trouble for some years, the case would appear to be open and closed, and would have been, except that his also-elderly sister has died on the same day, and the timing of the deaths has important implications on her estate. If he died before 10:07am, the money goes to the young woman who's looked after her for many years; if after 10:07am, it goes to the general's grandsons. And so begins Lord Wimsey's association with the case, as he unravels what should have been a tidy little death.
The Unpleasantness at Bellona Club is an excellent rainy day read for those who enjoy the genre. Mind candy, as it were.
Four stars.
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