Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Bantam Books (1982), Mass Market Paperback
Description
When a London businessman retires early and buys a Tudor mansion, he's quite surprised-and perhaps even a little pleased (retirement being pretty boring)-to find a skeleton hidden in a secret room in the house. The skeleton appears to be more than 150 years old, so the local police leave it to the homeowner to solve the mystery. The police are much more interested in solving a local, modern murder. Somehow the two deaths are connected. First published in 1967, this is Aird's only non-Inspector Sloan mystery, and a complete triumph.
User reviews
LibraryThing member thornton37814
Thomas Harding purchased a country estate sight unseen. He regrets having turned over the matter of the purchase to his wife during his convalescence, but all that changes when the odd placement of an electrical outlet leads to the discovery of a hidden room in the house. When they finally tear
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away the plaster someone had used to seal the hidden priest's hole, they find an old skeleton. With a current murder investigation, the local law enforcement is not very interested in the older crime. Thomas begins investigating on his own. This is probably going to be an all-time favorite mystery. Thomas uses the same types of principles that a good genealogist would utilize to investigate the persons living in the home at that time period and earlier. This is an absolute gem of a mystery and one that I'm sure I'll want to read again in the future. Show Less
LibraryThing member bcquinnsmom
In its own way, A Most Contagious Game reminded me a bit of Josephine Tey's Daughter of Time. Both have elements of historical fiction, and both involve the solving of murders from the past. Tey's hero thinks he has solved the mystery of who really killed the princes in the tower (viz Richard III);
I thought this book was awesome until the very end, because when the murderer (present-day) is revealed, it is so quick and so fast that you're thinking to yourself "huh?" No lead in at all. I have noted in some of my reviews of her other books that the author has a habit of doing this and I'm sad to see she continued it here.
If I could give like 3.75 stars, that's what I'd do; but I must say I really liked the book up until that point. Others may disagree. Oh well.
Recommended for those who enjoy British crime novels and novels that feature a bit of history.
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the hero in Aird's book comes upon a skeleton in a priest's hole he discovers in his home. After being told that the skeleton is probably about 150 years old, the main character sets about using history to try to figure out who the bones belonged to and why he or she was in there. Aside from that, though, the two books go on divergent paths, with this one adding in a present-day murder as well. I thought this book was awesome until the very end, because when the murderer (present-day) is revealed, it is so quick and so fast that you're thinking to yourself "huh?" No lead in at all. I have noted in some of my reviews of her other books that the author has a habit of doing this and I'm sad to see she continued it here.
If I could give like 3.75 stars, that's what I'd do; but I must say I really liked the book up until that point. Others may disagree. Oh well.
Recommended for those who enjoy British crime novels and novels that feature a bit of history.
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LibraryThing member cmbohn
"The Most Contagious Game" is a stand alone novel by Catherine Aird. It follows a retired man who finds a skeleton while trying to have his home rewired. It seems the skeleton is about 150 years old, and so the police don't care who the murderer is, but our hero, Tom does. Soon, he is able to piece
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together the motive for the killing, and so discovers the killer. In the meantime, the police are trying to solve a modern murder, with the suspect in hiding. The two mysteries entwine, and so our hero helps to solve two crimes. Good book, with solid information about priest holes, and such. Show Less
LibraryThing member Scrabblenut
This is a fairly gentle English mystery which involves a 200 year old murder, as well as a modern one, and some interesting history about persecution of Roman Catholics in Elizabethan times. It is her one stand-alone mystery not involving Sloan.
LibraryThing member Riyale
The first Catherine Aird I read...which led me to the Sloan and Crosby series. This stand alone book is intelligent, witty, has great pace and characters. I found it very entertaining. A great village cozy.
LibraryThing member particle_p
This book is very similar to Josephine Tey's "Daughter of Time." A wealthy man is recovering from a heart attack in his new (to him) but otherwise extremely old house. He discovers a skeleton in a priest's hole, and slowly researches how it ended up there. I've gone and made it sound all dry, but
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really it's not — Aird did a brilliant job at atmosphere in this book. She slowly generates tension and makes the historical characters alive as we learn about them. If your favorite part of a traditional ghost story is the inevitable trip to the library, you should read this. Show Less
LibraryThing member Overgaard
her only mystery NOT featuring Sloan but brilliantly done and an historical achievement
LibraryThing member soraki
Thomas is bored to tears with his early retirement in a small English village when he and his wife discover a priest hole in their house. Hidden in the priest hole is a skeleton of a teenage boy. The police remove the body from the house but decline to investigate the death as the boy has been dead
Thomas decides to investigate the mystery to alleviate his boredom. Who is the boy? Who killed him? And why was his body hidden in the priest hole?
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for a century and a half and his murderer would be long dead also. Thomas decides to investigate the mystery to alleviate his boredom. Who is the boy? Who killed him? And why was his body hidden in the priest hole?
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Awards
Language
Original publication date
1967-10
Physical description
6.8 inches
ISBN
0553206753 / 9780553206753
Local notes
Sloane
DDC/MDS
| Fic Mystery Aird |