"The Journeying Boy"

I hve always enjoyed and admired the mysteries of Michael Innes, particularly the ones featuring Detective Inspector John Appleby. One of my all-time favorites, however, is not an Appleby mystery - it is outside of any series. It's "The Journeying Boy," which dates from 1949, and is a marvelous tour de force, combining classic mystery elements and some humor with an action thriller that rarely lets up. It's the subject of our podcast review this week, and you may listen to the full review here.

There are two major threads to the story. First, there is the story of a teacher who is hired as the tutor for a precocious and difficult boy, who is supposed to be on his way to visit distant releatives in Ireland. The other thread concerns a detective who is attempting to solve a strange murder of an unknown victim who is shot in the theater where an exceptionally noisy movie is playing (I did mention "humor," didn't I?). The two threads, obviously, are interconnected - and it is to the author's credit that the reader will see those connections before the characters in the book will spot them. The book begins at a relatively high level of intensity - and then the excitement grows, exponentially, as it nears a riveting and highly entertaining climax.

It's not classic in the sense that the Appleby mysteries are classic, perhaps, but it is certainly in the classic thriller mold, and the clues provided by the author are meant to make certain that the reader often stays a step or two ahead of the characters. But there are plenty of unexpected twists and surprises along the way. It's terrific entertainment and a good book for a long winter's night of enjoyable reading.