Review by gladys_faith -- Arsenic and Old Men
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gladys_faith
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Review by gladys_faith -- Arsenic and Old Men
[Following is a volunteer review of "Arsenic and Old Men" by Glenn Ickler.]
4 out of 4 stars
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Dave Jerome, a staff editorial cartoonist in St. Paul Daily Dispatch, was compelled to visit Martha's Vineyard and meet the lawyer representing the estate of his late uncle, Walter Jerome. Planning to have a few days trip to the considered millionaire’s playground, he brought with him two of his colleagues, Warren Mitchell and Alan Jeffrey who were the investigative reporter and photographer of the mentioned publication. They also decided to bring their wives with them to enjoy the weekend on the beach. As they met with the “too casual” Richard Rylander, Walt’s lawyer, they learned that Dave was the sole living relative of the deceased and he would inherit most of his property including a huge “cottage” in Martha’s Vineyard worth $800,000, a relevant amount of cash investments and a patch of woods in Chappaquiddick. After they spent the night in Dave’s newly owned house, the group planned the schedule and itinerary of their 5 days’ vacation – visit the property in Chappaquiddick, pick up Uncle Walt’s body from his autopsy procedure, scatter his ashes and leave by the fifth day, Wednesday. However, fate had a different plan for them. The next day, they discovered that his inherited asset in Chappaquiddick had a weird man who claimed that he had squatter’s rights in the property. Another and more shocking news arrived the next morning when the autopsy results showed that his uncle didn’t die of a heart attack but was murdered by arsenic poisoning. With this revelation, the three men decided to stick with the Three Musketeers mantra of "all for one, one for all" and decided to extend their stay for an indefinite time until they found out the truth.
I was very impressed by the way Glenn Ickler narrated this story. The right combination of humor and suspense was really effective and it made me want to hold the book until its last pages. The witty remarks of the three men, especially Warren Mitchell who was the narrator in this story, were so cool that I actually found myself smiling while reading it. Given the usual gruesome storyline of mystery/suspense crime stories, it was actually refreshing to find a book with enough humor that makes it fun and light to read. Despite the comedy part of it, the talented author still did a great job in developing curiosity among its readers and building enough suspense on how things will eventually go for the 3 men as they uncover intriguing facts and pieces of evidence along the way. The involvement of the wives also added a little touch of romance as well which I found cute.
Generally, I did not have any negative remarks for the book since I enjoyed every part of it. I found some filler chapters which were not highly relevant to the whole storyline but I even had fun reading these parts as well given the hilarious banters of the three musketeers or rather, the three stooges. I think it was also Ickler’s style of writing exactly the same narrative for repetitive scenes, and for me, it was effective in such a way that readers could appreciate the natural and mundane part of life. Overall, I did not notice any big deal typographical error and I believed that this story was well edited.
I recommend this book to any type of reader. Even those who are not a big fan of crime/suspense/thriller/mystery genre, I think they can still appreciate the overall narrative of this book. For anyone who looks for an interesting book and wants to have fun and smile, this book is definitely for you.
Obviously, with all the well-deserved praises that I mentioned, I definitely give Arsenic and Old Men a perfect rating of 4 out of 4 stars. With the great experience that I had while reading this book, I actually looked up Glenn’s history and learned that he’s a naturally witty and humorous author. The greatest thing is he has more books to offer which will surely be as satisfying as this one.
******
Arsenic and Old Men
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
4 out of 4 stars
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Dave Jerome, a staff editorial cartoonist in St. Paul Daily Dispatch, was compelled to visit Martha's Vineyard and meet the lawyer representing the estate of his late uncle, Walter Jerome. Planning to have a few days trip to the considered millionaire’s playground, he brought with him two of his colleagues, Warren Mitchell and Alan Jeffrey who were the investigative reporter and photographer of the mentioned publication. They also decided to bring their wives with them to enjoy the weekend on the beach. As they met with the “too casual” Richard Rylander, Walt’s lawyer, they learned that Dave was the sole living relative of the deceased and he would inherit most of his property including a huge “cottage” in Martha’s Vineyard worth $800,000, a relevant amount of cash investments and a patch of woods in Chappaquiddick. After they spent the night in Dave’s newly owned house, the group planned the schedule and itinerary of their 5 days’ vacation – visit the property in Chappaquiddick, pick up Uncle Walt’s body from his autopsy procedure, scatter his ashes and leave by the fifth day, Wednesday. However, fate had a different plan for them. The next day, they discovered that his inherited asset in Chappaquiddick had a weird man who claimed that he had squatter’s rights in the property. Another and more shocking news arrived the next morning when the autopsy results showed that his uncle didn’t die of a heart attack but was murdered by arsenic poisoning. With this revelation, the three men decided to stick with the Three Musketeers mantra of "all for one, one for all" and decided to extend their stay for an indefinite time until they found out the truth.
I was very impressed by the way Glenn Ickler narrated this story. The right combination of humor and suspense was really effective and it made me want to hold the book until its last pages. The witty remarks of the three men, especially Warren Mitchell who was the narrator in this story, were so cool that I actually found myself smiling while reading it. Given the usual gruesome storyline of mystery/suspense crime stories, it was actually refreshing to find a book with enough humor that makes it fun and light to read. Despite the comedy part of it, the talented author still did a great job in developing curiosity among its readers and building enough suspense on how things will eventually go for the 3 men as they uncover intriguing facts and pieces of evidence along the way. The involvement of the wives also added a little touch of romance as well which I found cute.
Generally, I did not have any negative remarks for the book since I enjoyed every part of it. I found some filler chapters which were not highly relevant to the whole storyline but I even had fun reading these parts as well given the hilarious banters of the three musketeers or rather, the three stooges. I think it was also Ickler’s style of writing exactly the same narrative for repetitive scenes, and for me, it was effective in such a way that readers could appreciate the natural and mundane part of life. Overall, I did not notice any big deal typographical error and I believed that this story was well edited.
I recommend this book to any type of reader. Even those who are not a big fan of crime/suspense/thriller/mystery genre, I think they can still appreciate the overall narrative of this book. For anyone who looks for an interesting book and wants to have fun and smile, this book is definitely for you.
Obviously, with all the well-deserved praises that I mentioned, I definitely give Arsenic and Old Men a perfect rating of 4 out of 4 stars. With the great experience that I had while reading this book, I actually looked up Glenn’s history and learned that he’s a naturally witty and humorous author. The greatest thing is he has more books to offer which will surely be as satisfying as this one.
******
Arsenic and Old Men
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Days of the Giants by RJ Petrella
