Diane K.'s Reviews > Death at the Opera

** spoiler alert ** Ordinarily, I enjoy Golden Age mysteries. I got on to this series through a DVD of Diana Rigg's portrayal; this book is one of the ones that was adapted. I was curious to see how they compared, because the adaptation was peculiar, to say the least. I was pleased by the introduction that assured me that the novel was very different, and it was. Much more in depth, with a lot of characterization.
(Spoilers)

Miss Ferris, a thoroughly inoffensive lady (this is impressed multiple times throughout) nevertheless acquires some enemies. She managed to avoid linking up with a black widower during her summer vacation, but he's still hoping to persuade her. She is aware of the long-term romance between a widow on the staff and another staff member whose wife has been in an asylum for 11 years or more. (however, she has no intention of exposing them, either out of malice or hope of blackmail; she's too inoffensive.) By helping to finance the school's production of "The Mikado", she wins a role that should have gone to a better actress. She accidently damages a piece of sculpture by a high-strung and temperamental artist. So when she ends up drowned, there is a whole batch of suspects to choose from.

Mrs. Bradley arrives and sets to work sifting clues, motivations, and psychological profiles. This part was quite interesting. I didn't even mind when the black widower subplot suddenly appeared; I figured that it must tie in somehow, and it did. Another young woman, trying to blackmail the widower (who had been formally acquitted) ends up dead. So does the insane wife of the male half of the pair of lovers.

At this point, this entertaining story collapsed for me. None of the crimes are actually SOLVED. Mrs. Bradley has only the satisfaction of knowing whodunnem; there is no proof that can be taken to court. Although the police charge the black widower with the second woman's death, there is no assurance that the charge will stick. As for the death of the insane lady, another character, who cherishes an unrequited passion for the widowed half of the lover's pair, admits to Mrs. Bradley quite candidly that he decided to smooth the path to her happiness by hiring the black widower to kill the lady in the asylum. (all clear, now?) Now, even though a private confession could not hold up in court, there is no reason why Mrs. Bradley cannot drop a word in the ears of the police. She does not. Nor does she quietly inform the hapless lovers of the truth. The result is, that after 11 blissful years together, their love is poisoned by doubt and suspicion, with the man assuming that his lover has either killed his wife, or thinks that he did. Not to mention that the killer-by-proxy is left teaching innocent children at this school.

And poor, inoffensive Miss Ferris? She's too inoffensive. She was murdered by someone who didn't want her playing in the Mikado; the killer wanted to watch a better actress in the role. Never mind that the actress she wanted to watch was, in fact, the second choice for subbing for the missing Miss Ferris; it was only chance that the best actress took the part. Mrs. Bradley lets the killer off, seemingly for no other reason than that the killer is elderly. (although in good health and vigor.) It doesn't seem to occur to this psychiatrist that anyone willing to kill for such an appalling trivial reason might end up killing someone else, for equally trivial reasons.

Or perhaps Mrs. Bradley, who ends the book by writing an chatty, admiring letter to the killer requesting to visit, intends to either drive the killer to suicide, or--just maybe--dispose of the killer herself. She is entirely capable of it; there were hints in the only other book I read that she has, in fact, done so previously.

But, we'll never know. Everything is left hanging. Perhaps there is a follow-up in a future book, but I will never know. The first book I read, THE SALTMARSH MURDERS, was a horribly confusing mishmash. Two chances are enough; I won't try this author again.