pickA top tier example of golden age classic crime! This is a murder mystery but it's also a romantic adventure, and a Gothic fantasy, with elements of noir and even human philosophy. The plot is ridiculous, but it sweeps you up and carries you along because the characters are so well realised and the atmosphere is so pervasive. There's a real sense of unease and threat, which lingers even after it's all been resolved. Brilliant fun! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Mourning is not forgetting', he said gently [...] 'It is an undoing. Every minute tie has to be untied and something permanent and valuable recovered and assimilated from the knot. The end is gain, of course. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be made strong, in fact. But the process is like all other human births, painful and long and dangerous.'
This rings very true.
pickLow pick because I didn‘t have quite enough energy to give this story the attention it deserved. That said, I did find the manhunt piece less interesting than the mystery of the presumed-dead fiancé.
pickA slow start for me, being the first of these books I‘ve read and there were a lot of characters from previous stories who I didn‘t really know. That said, once I got into it I found a thrilling, surprising, suspenseful book that makes the most of a postwar setting. It made for an excellent companion by this fire in Mayo, certainly.
I am finally reading at a good clip now. I have to read 5 books for a class I am attending at Oxford University in little over 3 weeks time. The class is called 200 Years of British Murder. I have finished 3 of the 5 books. Starting the 4th novel, which I hope to get done tomorrow and finish up by the end of the week. I have taken a class with this instructor before so I think I get where he is going with these choices in material. So exciting!
The Tiger in the Smoke | 
