A Private View: Volume 13

by Michael Innes and John Innes Mackintosh Stewart

Book Overview

From a British Golden Age author "in a class by himself among detective story writers," Sir John Appleby solves an art world crime (The Times Literary Supplement).

When Sir John Appleby is persuaded by Lady Appleby to attend an art exhibit, he believes he is only appeasing his wife, a sculptress herself, and quite the art collector, too. But when Appleby learns the show is a memorial exhibition for recently murdered artist Gavin...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1504092740
• ISBN13: 9781504092746
• Release Date: May 2024
• Publisher: Open Road Media Mystery & Thri
• Length: 218 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

The purloined painting

John Innes Mackintosh Stewart (pseudonym Michael Innes) was born in 1906 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was educated at Oriel College, Oxford, and his mysteries reflect both his scholarship, and the year he spent in Vienna, studying Freudian psychoanalysis. "One-Man Show" (1952), also titled "A Private View" is later Appleby. Sir John has already been knighted and married, and has worked his way up to the position of Assistant Commissioner at New Scotland Yard. He and his wife, Lady Judith (a sculptress by profession) play equal roles in solving the double mystery of who murdered the young artist, Gavin Limbert, and who stole two very famous paintings from the Duke of Horton's estate. (The Duke also plays a prominent role in the early Appleby mystery, "Hamlet, Revenge!" (1937).)This story begins when Lady Judith drags her unsuspecting husband off to a memorial exhibition of the works of Gavin Limbert, a young artist who was thought to have committed suicide. When Limbert's `chef d'oeuvre' is stolen from the gallery, right under Appleby's nose, he feels compelled to reopen the case on the painter's mysterious demise. Appleby's assistant, Inspector Cadover is already acquainted with the case and he serves as a stiff upper-lip to his chief's intuitive, sometimes playful method of investigation. When Appleby disappears after a nocturnal ruckus in a junk shop, Cadover takes over the case and brings it to a successful conclusion---just as he later takes on Appleby's role at New Scotland Yard after Sir John's retirement (for more about Cadover, read "The Case of the Journeying Boy" by Michael Innes (1949).)This particular Appleby is an equal mixture of mystery and adventure---Appleby personally engages the villains in glorious, but somewhat ignominious battle; Judith hides in a closet and overhears an artist plotting murder, etc. There is a wonderful chase scene that ends when Lady Judith and the Duke of Horton save Appleby from a particularly appalling fate.Don't let the author's gift for playful, erudite dialogue disguise his mastery of character. "One-Man Show" contains a portrait of an amnesiac young woman that is probably the most sensitive and believable in all of mystery literature (eat your heart out, Dame Agatha!)

A painter's mysterious demise

John Innes Mackintosh Stewart (pseudonym Michael Innes) was born in 1906 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was educated at Oriel College, Oxford, and his mysteries reflect both his scholarship, and the year he spent in Vienna, studying Freudian psychoanalysis. ?One-Man Show? (1952), also titled ?A Private View? is later Appleby. Sir John has already been knighted and married, and has worked his way up to the position of Assistant Commissioner at New Scotland Yard. He and his wife, Lady Judith (a sculptress by profession) play equal roles in solving the double mystery of who murdered the young artist, Gavin Limbert, and who stole two very famous paintings from the Duke of Horton?s estate. (The Duke also plays a prominent role in the early Appleby mystery, ?Hamlet, Revenge!? (1937).)This story begins when Lady Judith drags her unsuspecting husband off to a memorial exhibition of the works of Gavin Limbert, a young artist who was thought to have committed suicide. When Limbert?s ?chef d?oeuvre? is stolen from the gallery, right under Appleby?s nose, he feels compelled to reopen the case on the painter?s mysterious demise. Appleby?s assistant, Inspector Cadover is already acquainted with the case and he serves as a stiff upper-lip to his chief?s intuitive, sometimes playful method of investigation. When Appleby disappears after a nocturnal ruckus in a junk shop, Cadover takes over the case and brings it to a successful conclusion---just as he later takes on Appleby?s role at New Scotland Yard after Sir John?s retirement (for more about Cadover, read ?The Case of the Journeying Boy? by Michael Innes (1949).)This particular Appleby is an equal mixture of mystery and adventure---Appleby personally engages the villains in glorious, but somewhat ignominious battle; Judith hides in a closet and overhears an artist plotting murder, etc. There is a wonderful chase scene that ends when Lady Judith and the Duke of Horton save Appleby from a particularly appalling fate.Don?t let the author?s gift for playful, erudite dialogue disguise his mastery of character. ?One-Man Show? contains a portrait of an amnesiac young woman that is probably the most sensitive and believable in all of mystery literature (eat your heart out, Dame Agatha!)