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shannon_aI recently finished up the other Jack Vance mystery that I was able to order from LINK+.
I think this was a later book than my previous read, The House on Lily Street. It was published in 1967 and I suspect it was written not too long before. Unlike the previous books' intensely interesting look at a real setting (Oakland), this one is set in a made-up place, San Rodrigo County. I think it's intended to lie between San Benito County and Monterey County (which in reality directly adjoin), which is to say somewhere between Salinas and Hollister, not far southeast of San Jose.
It was an interesting mystery. Much like The House on Lily Street, I thought it was well organized, with a lot of clues being uncovered such that a good reader should be able to figure out the mystery shortly before the revelation (as I did).
However, I also thought that it wasn't quite as good as The House on Lily Street. Though that other book felt less polished, it also felt less conventional. Its flashbacks interwoven with interviews made it really stand out, whereas The Pleasant Grove Murders read like most other mysteries that I've read. Jack Vance's voice was less obvious.
However, given that The House on Lily Street appears to have sat unpublished for some time while The Pleasant Grove Murders didn't, perhaps it's understandable that Vance became more conventional in his mystery writing.
I'd still happily read the other book set in this same area, The Fox Valley Murders, if I could get my hands on it.
I think this was a later book than my previous read, The House on Lily Street. It was published in 1967 and I suspect it was written not too long before. Unlike the previous books' intensely interesting look at a real setting (Oakland), this one is set in a made-up place, San Rodrigo County. I think it's intended to lie between San Benito County and Monterey County (which in reality directly adjoin), which is to say somewhere between Salinas and Hollister, not far southeast of San Jose.
It was an interesting mystery. Much like The House on Lily Street, I thought it was well organized, with a lot of clues being uncovered such that a good reader should be able to figure out the mystery shortly before the revelation (as I did).
However, I also thought that it wasn't quite as good as The House on Lily Street. Though that other book felt less polished, it also felt less conventional. Its flashbacks interwoven with interviews made it really stand out, whereas The Pleasant Grove Murders read like most other mysteries that I've read. Jack Vance's voice was less obvious.
However, given that The House on Lily Street appears to have sat unpublished for some time while The Pleasant Grove Murders didn't, perhaps it's understandable that Vance became more conventional in his mystery writing.
I'd still happily read the other book set in this same area, The Fox Valley Murders, if I could get my hands on it.