A dark little adventure from Ackroyd's pen. No-one is quite who they seem, and there are hidden histories.

The denouement wasn't as satisfying as I would have liked, but feel it may have been caused by some clumsy editing, as I also found a continuity glitch (I suspect an episode was cut earlier in the novel, and they forgot to edit out mention of it later).

An enjoyable short read though. ( )

In this strange, little novel, Ackroyd “leaves the City for the country”, to use his own phrase. What is more atypical about Ackroyd’s latest work, however, is that it is a comic novel. Its humour is, admittedly, wickedly dark, but for the most part, Mr Cadmus steers away from the elements of mysticism and psychogeography which haunt many of Ackroyd’s earlier novels. Indeed, it could be read as a parody of that brand of “cozy mysteries” which tend to be set in quaint and sleepy English villages.

Miss Finch and Miss Swallow, two cousins now in their fifties, have settled down in Little Camborne. A vacant cottage stands between their respective residences. When Theodore Cadmus, a foreigner from the obscure Mediterranean island of Caldera moves in, he brings a touch of exoticism to the spinsters’ lives. This is, after all, 1981, when immigrants still carry with them an aura of otherness and danger (plus ça change...) The eponymous Mr Cadmus, however, is respectful and chivalric towards the ladies and soon settles into the routine of Little Camborne, village fetes and all. But, perhaps, this Calderan gentleman is not all he seems to be. Indeed, his arrival brings a wave of miraculous events and suspicious deaths.

For three-quarters of the book, I thoroughly enjoyed Mr Cadmus. A satirical black comedy with laugh-out-loud moments is not what I expected from Ackroyd, but he manages to deliver a dark divertissement full of sparkling dialogue, a mash-up of early Waugh, The Count of Monte Cristo (mentioned at one stage by Miss Swallow) and a wacky episode of Midsomer Murders. In the final chapters of the novel, however, the setting moves from Little Camborne to the fictional Caldera and the plot goes completely bonkers, incorporating fantastical, dream-like scenes which seem quite at odds with what came before.

This is not the first time that the ending of an Ackroyd novel leaves me flummoxed. In this case, I’m still trying to get my head around what I’ve just read, and this has dampened my enthusiasm for an otherwise enjoyable book.

3.5*

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2020/04/mr-cadmus-by-peter-ackroyd.html ( )

In this strange, little novel, Ackroyd “leaves the City for the country”, to use his own phrase. What is more atypical about Ackroyd’s latest work, however, is that it is a comic novel. Its humour is, admittedly, wickedly dark, but for the most part, Mr Cadmus steers away from the elements of mysticism and psychogeography which haunt many of Ackroyd’s earlier novels. Indeed, it could be read as a parody of that brand of “cozy mysteries” which tend to be set in quaint and sleepy English villages.

Miss Finch and Miss Swallow, two cousins now in their fifties, have settled down in Little Camborne. A vacant cottage stands between their respective residences. When Theodore Cadmus, a foreigner from the obscure Mediterranean island of Caldera moves in, he brings a touch of exoticism to the spinsters’ lives. This is, after all, 1981, when immigrants still carry with them an aura of otherness and danger (plus ça change...) The eponymous Mr Cadmus, however, is respectful and chivalric towards the ladies and soon settles into the routine of Little Camborne, village fetes and all. But, perhaps, this Calderan gentleman is not all he seems to be. Indeed, his arrival brings a wave of miraculous events and suspicious deaths.

For three-quarters of the book, I thoroughly enjoyed Mr Cadmus. A satirical black comedy with laugh-out-loud moments is not what I expected from Ackroyd, but he manages to deliver a dark divertissement full of sparkling dialogue, a mash-up of early Waugh, The Count of Monte Cristo (mentioned at one stage by Miss Swallow) and a wacky episode of Midsomer Murders. In the final chapters of the novel, however, the setting moves from Little Camborne to the fictional Caldera and the plot goes completely bonkers, incorporating fantastical, dream-like scenes which seem quite at odds with what came before.

This is not the first time that the ending of an Ackroyd novel leaves me flummoxed. In this case, I’m still trying to get my head around what I’ve just read, and this has dampened my enthusiasm for an otherwise enjoyable book.

3.5*

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2020/04/mr-cadmus-by-peter-ackroyd.html ( )

https://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2021/09/2021113-mr-cadmus-peter-ackroyd.html ( )

Miss Finch and Miss Sparrow are two retired cousins living in cottages in the village of Little Camborne. They lead safe and simple lives until a new neighbour appears, the foreign and lively Theodore Cadmus. As Cadmus settles into life in the village strange occurrences happen and several deaths. is this related to Cadmus or to the cousins.
In the first part of the book the scene seems to be set for a cosy little novel a la Christie crossed with Midsomer Murders. However when a little more is known of Cadmus' back-story there appears to be a darker twist. Again so far so good. It is about halfway through that the story seems to go massively left-field and at that point I completely lost interest. I'm still not sure what was happening in the plot and to be honest I didn't really care. Ackroyd has produced some outstanding books but this is not one of them. ( )