This book is every bit as good as The Crossing Places. No, it’s actually better. So much funnier! Though the parts told from the murderer’s point of view (thankfully, brief) are gut-churning. Do not read any further if you do not want to know the identity of the murderer! The dialogue is A++.
Ruth screams, so loudly that it startles both of them. Roderick stops and looks at her quizzically.
“Why are you frightened?” he asks.
“What do you think?” shouts Ruth. “I’m stuck here on a boat with a madman. A madman with a knife.”
Roderick looks quite hurt. “I’m not mad,” he says. “I’ve got a first in classics from Cambridge.”
From what Ruth has seen of Oxbridge graduates, the two are not mutually exclusive.
— The Janus Stone, p. 287
This conversation follows immediately after a scene where we see DCI Harry Nelson running around like a chicken without a head. Eventually, he figures out (through the timely appearance of Cathbad) that he’s been worried about the wrong daughter. Self wanted to pull her hair out.
Stay tuned.
Kanlaon 