It’s the second time I read this book. While it took me 2 days only to read it the first time when I was a student in 1997, it took me over a month in 2022.
The book had left me then with a big impression and for years it was the gold standard for « entertainment I thoroughly enjoyed. » Having read it again, I know it isn’t the gold standard anymore. In the 25 years that passed since then, I discovered Jane Austen :)
One detail I loved about Mr Murder:
The creative fictitious names one of the characters makes up as titles for the science fiction books another character keeps reading. Since the former doesn’t approve of that kind of literature, the titles are very funny.
One thing I hated:
The sheer amount of guns and firing arms owned by the main protagonists, who are otherwise completely traditional and everyday people. So much so that their veneration for them doesn’t ring true. They fit in the plot but there are way too many, particularly as this is obviously not a satire of gun ownership and worship in the USA.
I found it rather well written, but a bit too long while at the same time the end is rushed and superficial.
Contemplations in markup 