The Question of Max (1976)

Although lots of things were interesting in this book, including the engagement with questions about who 'owns' or tells the stories of women's lives and the links to my other reading of the 'Somerville novelists,' I had a harder time than usual tolerating the arch tone: the artifice and pretension, though an homage, I know, to the Peter Wimsey books, sounds like them at their worst rather than at their best.

With this fifth entry, I think I’m beginning to tire of this series. I can’t quite put my finger on what I don’t like as much about it—the plot itself is interesting, and the literary quotations don’t bother me, but somehow I just found it very easy to put down. ( )

"A mysterious death plunges Professor Kate Fansler on a literary quest into a Bloomsbury-like group of feminist writers, and the questionable heritage of a man named Max - dear old Max - a thoroughly elegant snob, who may or may not be too impeccable for violence. The trail leads her from the rocky coast of Maine to the sleek masculine enclaves of Oxford, England, and a one-room cabin in the Berkshires, alone with a killer..." HarperCollins jacket notes. This series is okay, not great. My grandmother collected them. If I read too many in a row, I get annoyed with them. ( )