Where to Start with Michael Innes

As I've said in my last post, I find Michael Innes' "The Daffodil Affair" to be thoroughly enjoyable. However, if you have never read anything by Innes, I don't think it's a good place to start. The oddities and eccentricities of the plot and the characters might be a deterrent to your enjoyment, unless you're already familiar with Innes' quirky sense of humor.

As I wrote in a post several months ago, I think there are two other Innes books you should read first. One is "Lament for a Maker," which is a good introduction to his primary series detective, Inspector John Appleby. It's a riveting mystery set in the wilds of the Scottish Highlands. It is beautifully written, with an ending that is likely to leave you breathless. The second book is "The Journeying Boy," which is out-of-series. It's more of a thriller than a straight mystery, and there are some wonderfully surreal episodes in the book, but it's a funny, cleverly-written mystery and very much worth your time.

After these two books, there's a great deal more Innes to explore - including "The Daffodil Affair." It's difficult to go wrong with Innes (though I'm not thrilled by some of his later books featuring Charles Honeybath), and I'll be reviewing more of his books in the months ahead. At the moment, he seems to be in print and readily available - in fact, "Lament for a Maker" even has a Kindle version.

Comments

[Yvette]

I bought it used and have it right here - LAMENT FOR A MAKER. But I picked up COMEDY OF TERRORS and am reading that now, holiday season and all that. I also bought APPLEBY'S ANSWER. Read SEVEN SUSPECTS too which I found just the slightest bit tedious with all the eccentric professors running about moving a body in the dark. But I persevered and it does introduce Gott. Then I read HAMLET, REVENGE and enjoyed that.

Les, do you know what book introduces Appleby to the woman he'll marry? I'd like to read that.

Obviously I've turned into an Innes fiend. HA!

[Les Blatt]

Appleby meets Judith Raven in "Appleby's End," a very funny and surreal entry in the series. I reviewed it on this blog a couple of years back - http://www.classicmysteries.net/2008/08/applebys-end.html - and there's a more detailed podcast review at http://classicmysteries.podbus.com/ApplebysEnd.mp3 . I suspect you'll enjoy it.
"Seven Suspects," by the way, was Innes' first mystery - it's also called "Death at the President's Lodging." I agree with your assessment - it's a bit TOO clever. But it was successful, and it led to the rest of the Appleby books.
Enjoy your fiendishness! ;-)