Twenty-three stories, all featuring Appleby, mostly told in the first person as after-dinner anecdotes. Some are merely set-ups for puns, and these and others may -- it is implied - have been fabricated by Appleby on the spot. Some of them, like "The Clock-face Case", poke gentle fun at the conventions of detective fiction. Stories of particular interest are "Appleby's First Case" (a highly improbable start to a highly improbable career), "Dead Man's Shoes", a longer piece which manages to generate some pathos, and "A Derby Horse", which is based around what was (to me at least) a completely original idea. This is Chinese food for the mind; engaging but quickly forgotten. One wonders how many of these were rejected ideas for Innes novels.
Jon.
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