This 3rd book in the Inspector Appleby series is very different in style from the first two. This style is similar to Wilkie Collins; the story is told in a series of first person narratives. Unfortunately, the first narrative by Ewan Bell is written in a Scots English that almost made me give up on this before I had read 25 pages. I am so glad that I didn't! The case kept getting more and more complex and the ending was a great surprise - Innes really came up with a wonderful plot. ( )

Durante unas vísperas navideñas, la extraña muerte del dueño de un castillo, caído desde su torre de locura y ensimismamiento, conmueve la calma de una aldea escocesa. Como un rompecabezas, el caso se va resolviendo pieza a pieza con la intervención de distintos personajes. Un zapatero, un joven con ambiciones literarias, un abogado de dudosa eficacia y un sagaz oficial inglés participan de la investigación que oculta disputas familiares, muertos que vuelven y un amplio abanico de temperamentos neuróticos.

A genuine classic. (I have heard that some people are put off by the use of Scots dialect, but I don't agree with this at all.) The use of multiple narrators (including Inspector Appleby himself at one point) works well, and the mystery of who was responsible for the death of the eccentric Ranald Guthrie has some amazing twists and turns. ( )

Good solid entry in this classic British detective series. Clearly draws on as inspiration for its use of multiple narrators to tell the story, and on as well, as the mystery is "solived" multiple times in different ways. ( )

A Scottish castle,an isolated village,quirky villagers and an eccentric Lord. All the right ingredients for a classic mystery. The story is made up of different parts told by different characters. And it works were it not for the first character who writes as he speaks with plenty of Scottish words and expressions. Not always evident...Still the storyline is good and the outcome of the mystery is not obvious. 3,5 stars
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