Review by aacodreanu -- Arsenic and Old Men by Glenn Ickler

[aacodreanu]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Arsenic and Old Men" by Glenn Ickler.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Reading Arsenic and Old Men by Glenn Ickler has been a delight. I was right in my guess that the title sends to the famous movie Arsenic and Old Lace. Indeed, there is arsenic in the plot and there is “old” only not lace, but men. And there is murder, murders to be more exact. Only the similitude ends there; the murders are not perpetrated as a sort of misconstrued charity to lonely, lost men, and there is no dog in the picture, but a cat, just to mention a further analogy to the famous film.

The plot starts with Dave Jerome and his two friends, Al and Mich, and their respective wives, who had decided to fly all the way from Minnesota to Oak Bluffs, a resort on the famous Martha’s Vineyard island in Massachusetts with a view to fulfilling Dave’s late uncle’s last wishes and consider what to do with the inheritance. It is soon discovered that the uncle did not die of a heart attack. It was murder, followed by another one, both by arsenic poisoning and both leaving no clues as to why the men were killed or who was responsible. The trio, an investigative reporter, a professional photographer and a recently” free lanced” cartoonist, set on a quest to discover the truth. A series of adversities are encountered, like an uncooperative police chief, a terrible end-October storm, the sexual advances of two hot twins, or a demanding chief editor. Yet the obstacles are all surmounted in the end and the reader has the feeling that the adventure was his/her own.

Ikler’s characters are well individualized by the way they speak and act: the ”three musketeers” (or stooges according to other characters) are relaxed, they crack refined jokes among themselves. Clothes – or the lack of them - play a part in creating identities. There is compassion in describing less fortunate individuals that appear during the investigation. The author has a good strategy in making the wives’ presence important (especially Martha Todd, Mich’s wife), even if they leave the scene after the first 11 chapters, only to be kept in touch with the evolutions by phone after that. It is the only way that the husbands are credibly able to resist the advances of the gorgeous and enticing twins.

There is awareness of the language, of the way New Englanders speak, as opposed to Minnesotans(?), as well as of the language of the various ranks and files present in the action. Also, the scenery, tourist life of the famous resort where the top people of the country play golf, and the weather in the region in mid-October are naturally made a part of the plot.

There is little to be said about something less than perfect in the book. Perhaps some repetitive verbal clichés like ”making kissy sounds” or ”You’re the boss” are a bit tiresome (three times would have been enough to leave the desired effect, in my opinion). Also at a certain moment, after the three miss the ferry on their way to the airport, they can hardly manage to get on a bus on the way home, no mention being made of their luggage – practically they could not possibly have had it on the bus – and when they get home they change into dry clothes: wherefrom, if their initial intention was to leave for good, so probably had packed all their belongings?

Nevertheless, the good part prevails by far, so I give the book four stars out of four and look forward to reading another book by the same author, whom I recommend to all mystery lovers.

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Arsenic and Old Men
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