2 thoughts on “In The Spotlight: A. Eric Bayley’s The House of Strange Secrets”
Interesting that you said it had similarities to Holmes stories since that’s what I was thinking as soon as you described the plot! I can usually cope OK with British-style colonial racism simply because it’s so prevalent in older British fiction that I’m used to it, so I’m seriously tempted by this one…
I’ll be honest, FictionFan. I did think of the Holmes-style stories when I was reading this one, although I should say that there isn’t a brilliant detective and his biographer, as there is with Holmes and Watson. The young couple who do the investigating have a very different relationship. But the focus, the style of writing, and so on, really do remind me of the Conan Doyle stories. As for the racism and colonialism, they really are blatant and would never be acceptable today. But if you read the Holmes stories or Poe’s Dupin stories, you see it there, too. If you read this one, I hope you’ll enjoy it, and I’ll be interested in what you think of it.
Crime Writer Margot Kinberg 
Interesting that you said it had similarities to Holmes stories since that’s what I was thinking as soon as you described the plot! I can usually cope OK with British-style colonial racism simply because it’s so prevalent in older British fiction that I’m used to it, so I’m seriously tempted by this one…
LikeLike
I’ll be honest, FictionFan. I did think of the Holmes-style stories when I was reading this one, although I should say that there isn’t a brilliant detective and his biographer, as there is with Holmes and Watson. The young couple who do the investigating have a very different relationship. But the focus, the style of writing, and so on, really do remind me of the Conan Doyle stories. As for the racism and colonialism, they really are blatant and would never be acceptable today. But if you read the Holmes stories or Poe’s Dupin stories, you see it there, too. If you read this one, I hope you’ll enjoy it, and I’ll be interested in what you think of it.
LikeLiked by 1 person