Stop Press
by Michael Innes; audiobook read by Matt Addis (Bolinda, 2013)
originally published as “The Spider Strikes” (Dodd, Mead and Company, 1939)
A triumph of sustained tedium. Innes wields a beautiful turn of phrase, yet Appleby’s only notable achievement across 17+ audiobook hours of pointless, pontificating conversations, plumping out of superfluous characters and mendacious touting of murder in the offing, is to stay awake.
Hamlet, Revenge!
by Michael Innes (Gollancz, 1937); audiobook read by Matt Addis (2015)
Poetic and engaging. A clever, complicated mystery, rendered slightly unsatisfying by the lengthy preamble and the shifting narrative perspective. Innes has everything planned out but cannot contrive for Appleby to solve the case alone (or even with the help of Giles Gott).
Appleby Talks Again
by Michael Innes (Victor Gollancz, 1956)
audiobook read by Matt Addis (Brilliance Audio, 2015)
A pleasantly diverting collection of murder mystery tales. Appleby has more prominence and presence in the short form, though many of these stories give the impression of being little more than too-good-to-throw-away ideas that Innes dismissed as lacking substance for a novel.
Death at the President’s Lodging
by Michael Innes (Gollancz, 1936); audiobook read by Stephen Hogan (Audible, 2010)
Thoroughly ingenious if highly convoluted. Inspector Appleby makes little impression as a character but is active in investigating the murder and reflecting on possibilities. In audiobook form—a confoundedly soft recording!—the similarity between ‘Appleby’ and ‘Umpleby’ (the victim) proves rather distracting.