If you've read a lot of Chesterton's mysteries, you see many of the twists of this one coming. Upon the first meeting of the poet and the nobleman's daughter, you can guess how that's going to turn out- it's a favorite Chesterton trope. Likewise with the eventual resolution, which I'll admit I didn't have pegged down exactly, but with Chesterton you know that there's going to be something that reveals the story as not exactly how you assumed it to be. I really should have guessed the solution given that one of Chesterton's favorite drums to beat (which I find incredibly annoying) is the wisdom of the superstitions of the poor and the foolishness of the nobility for not paying those superstitions more heed. In both essays and stories alike Chesterton asserts that the educated world doesn't believe in things like ghosts because the common person does, and because the common person does the rest reject it out of hand. This never struck me as true- people of all classes believe such things, since money can't buy an understanding of the scientific method.

Anyway, back to the story, it didn't have many memorable lines like I'm used to for Chesterton, as there wasn't any character energetic enough and Chesterton-esque enough to deliver them. In some ways this was one of the most straight-forward mysteries I've ever read by Chesterton, with the main characters questioning suspects and gathering clues and analyzing the evidence. Unfortunately, the boilerplate mystery elements aren't what I go to Chesterton for. There wasn't the joy and happiness that usually characterizes many of Chesterton's stories, even those stories that are murder mysteries. In the end, therefore, I found this story serviceable, but it's not as good as the best Chesterton mysteries- Father Brown mysteries and The Club of Queer Trades both outshine this story in a myriad of ways. Still, I'd take mediocre Chesterton over the best works of most other authors any day of the week. ( )

Další z Chestertonových "detektivek", varujících různým způsobem klasickou detektivkovou formu a zároveň, sdělující v autorových očích určité podstatné a zásadní postřehy a myšlenky. Příběhy rozhodně nejsou tak dobré jako ty Brownovy, ale jejich literární kvality, stejně jako míru humoru jest dost těžké hodnotit. Český překlad z dvacátých let je opět neobyčejně mizerný... ( )

unknown