tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435570733711194686.post793566760510248512..comments2023-11-15T20:30:24.859+00:00Comments on A Sign of the Crimes: Murder Gone Mad by Philip MacdonaldA Sign of the Crimeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753757938979390225noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435570733711194686.post-65036437336664591502017-09-10T11:23:48.646+01:002017-09-10T11:23:48.646+01:00I think Macdonald and I got off to a bad start (wi...I think Macdonald and I got off to a bad start (with X v Rex, as it happens) <i>because</i> I went in with certain expectations. Part of what made me persevere with him was the appreciate that he was doing something that was not fashionable at the time. In a way he's writing in a much older style -- that sort of ungrounded thriller in the Edgar Wallace mode, but weirdly cross-bred with the trappings of the GAD stuff that was cropping up around him.<br /><br />This may in part have contributed to his lack of popularity these days -- even at the time he wasn't writing what people were looking for, so he faded rather from memory. But he stuck to this style with such determination that he was obviously doing <i>some</i>thing on purpose!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435570733711194686.post-40429919933081641582017-09-09T19:14:34.692+01:002017-09-09T19:14:34.692+01:00Thank you, and I get what you're saying. It...Thank you, and I get what you're saying. It's an innovation and perhaps what I was looking for wasn't ever meant to be there. I'll give X v Rex a miss, since both you and Kate haven't had great things to say about it, but hope to read The Maze soonish (i.e. hopefully before 2018...) and I'll look out for your thoughts on it!A Sign of the Crimeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05753757938979390225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435570733711194686.post-84120176158200422262017-09-09T19:12:09.312+01:002017-09-09T19:12:09.312+01:00Thank you, Kate! I'll add The Noose to my read...Thank you, Kate! I'll add The Noose to my reading list ... probably in a few years given the ridiculous amount of things I still have to read!A Sign of the Crimeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05753757938979390225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435570733711194686.post-78409800326753736032017-09-09T13:08:43.834+01:002017-09-09T13:08:43.834+01:00For what it's worth, I'd say you've gi...For what it's worth, I'd say you've given a very fair assessment of this book. Macdonald is capable of some damn fine writing and some good ideas -- the whole 'postboxes' thing in this is very nicely worked, and quite an innovation for the time -- but he's also focussed on a far smaller story than we'd usually expect (hope?) from a novel with this plot in this period.<br /><br />I think part of the celebration of this is that it <i>doesn't</i> play into the traps of motive and explanation that was so contemporaneously common: the title's all you need. We'd like it to be a fair-play puzzle with revelations come the end, and in fact it's just some "truly crazy" person going around killing people. Not satisfying, no, but then I don't think it was supposed to be! Seems a weird contrast, I know, but again it's an innovation in context.<br /><br />It's a damn sight better than X v. Rex, though, which is an oddly sterlie and uninvolved look at someone killing police officers. I, too, have The Maze to read, so it'll be interesting to see what you make of that -- I look forward to comparing notes at some future point!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6435570733711194686.post-37757735953920300992017-09-09T10:45:31.581+01:002017-09-09T10:45:31.581+01:00I've not read this one yet, though after readi...I've not read this one yet, though after reading X V Rex by the same author I am not immediately inclined to read another serial killer mystery from Macdonald. I much preferred The Rasp and The Noose - the latter was my favourite out of those two, with Gethryn having to prove a man innocent before he gets sent to the gallows. You might find either of these interesting reads for their depictions of masculinity and femininity, as I've often felt that the former is quite unstable and insecure and in need for being bolstered by stereotypical feminine traits in the female characters. Katehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05616800837907092489noreply@blogger.com