Good Entertainment with the right amount of mystery
342728
Good entertainment.  Has a nice mystery and is pretty much classic Tom Cruise. I think it is very similar to a Grisham story.
723618
This is a fine mystery that has no useless sex or bad language to detract from the real story. I am happy to recommend it.
2954189
I've read the first two of the series and have enjoyed them. The plot isn't glaringly given away in the first few chapters like a lot of mysteries are. I look forward to reading more of the series and reading more from the author.
4426571
entertaining,good characters,engaging story, and a few twists
586750
I like mysteries and it was a good one. I also enjoy being able to watch it all together so I don't have time to forget what happened last week.
4867927
M.C. Beatons mysteries are pretty much the lightest mysteries out there, but thats ok sometimes. When I get to this late in the school year, I often just want a quiet, pleasant, light diversion. That is what The Death of an Outsider offered. It is not a fantastic mystery, but I enjoyed it.

Basically, I really liked one unique aspect of The Death of an Outsider, and I was annoyed by one other. What I liked is that, like the other entries in the Hamish MacBeth series, this one offered up a charming setting (that Id love to visit someday) and some quirky characters. In addition to those normal features, I think that I got to see some interesting sides of Hamish in this novel. Hamish is taken away from his home village and away from Priscilla. As a result, the reader gets to see his interactions with someone new, and we get, particularly, to see Hamish romancing a woman other than Priscilla. I won't give away details with regard to this fling, but Beaton shows us a side of Hamish that is pretty noble and a little bit sad. I enjoyed seeing a little more substance added to Hamishs depiction.

The weaker part of this novel was the mystery. In particular, I thought that the way it was wrapped up (Ill give away no details) really relied on a pretty stretched deus ex machina. Hamish lucks into a situation thats truly not organic to the plot that tidily provides him with the solution to the mystery. It was a little too tidy, too neat, too convenient, and too sudden for my tastes.

So, The Death of an Outsider was still an enjoyable mystery--just this time, the pleasure in the book did not come from the mystery itself.
4463887
Dr. Fell is pretty good in this one.

I like how the story has a somewhat involved and outlandish ending (to me, at least) but when you get there and look back, there's plenty of clues pointing in that direction.  The characters are entertaining, and the mystery is a good one.  The end overplayed it just a tiny bit, but that's kind of par for the course with Gideon Fell.
3768221
I have really enjoyed his series of books since I stumbled on them a few months ago. I really appreciate that they are truly entertaining without being explicit as some other mystery series I have started to read. The characters in this series are mostly made up of ordinary people who get caught up in extraordinary circumstances. The mystery in this book was more convoluted than those in the first two books of the series, but still made sense in the end.
2477866
Called a mystery but this is really an appealing buddy book where the buddies are a romantic couple who happen to co-own a detective agency. Most of the enjoyment in the book comes from meeting these two and vicariously taking part in their relationship which includes one after another idiotic exchanges which ring true. I mean, real couples do have these silly little micro spats which amount to nothing so this part only adds to the fun of sharing some time with these two.

The mystery is a whodunit of course. A cast of quirky characters all of who lie constantly are in a mix where one of them died and another, apparently innocent bystander, was killed. The couple wanders around Las Vegas trying to unwind the mystery knot and instead unwinds previously unknown mysteries thought to be solved.

The mystery is finally exposed but not through the direct efforts of the couple. Instead  some folks 'come clean'. I'd have preferred the detectives detect something but it was still a neat and satisfactory wrap up. As it turns out, they weren't even close.

The book skewers the profession of psychiatry rather mercilessly. That rang true for me and the couple is enormously likable all of which makes this book fine little few hours of diversion. A perfect book for a beach or a plane flight.
3512939
I enjoyed the mystery with the lighter flair of the story. It wasn't too heavy on the mind like some thrillers are.
4280673
I can't claim to be a real Agatha Christie aficionado, not at the moment. My dad has always loved her books, and so I read a couple of the most famous ones back in high school and enjoyed them. Something clicked, though, this summer, and I wanted to read some more Christie novels. I guess I needed something a little like what Miss Marple is looking for at Bertram's Hotel in this novel--a nostalgic, comfortable, and light escape. I guess that Bertram's Hotel itself doesn't ultimately offer those things to Miss Marple in the story, but in my opinion, the novel itself possessed those qualities.

I can agree with some of the other reviews at At Bertram's Hotel has a plot that's slightly unruly, certainly too large for a novel of this size, and I'll admit, too, that I most enjoyed the moments when Miss Marple was in the action--and there were not necessarily that many of them.

But I liked a lot of things. I loved the descriptions of the hotel and of Christie's London and the nostalgic pleasure that Miss Marple feels for it. And even if the plot is not perfectly tight, it is romantic and funny, a quality and entertaining mystery at the least. And even if Miss Marple is not the lead investigator here, Inspector Davy is himself a pleasure to read about. He reminds me of one of Chesterton's mystery solvers (the one from The Club of Queer Trades) who solves cases by intuition and a sense of humor rather than by stolid logic. A series of novels starring Inspector Davy would have been quite enjoyable. The adventuresome and wild cast of side characters and villains, too, enhances the novel, giving it dashes of romance and parody. I was reminded, too, during the novel of Evelyn Waugh's satires.

So, I guess maybe this isn't quite like all of Christie's other novels. But there's more than enough of a mystery and plenty of humor and atmosphere to entertain just about any reader.
1266197
THE UNPLEASANTNESS AT THE BELLONA CLUB wasn't the best mystery novel that I've ever read, but it was certainly enjoyable enough that I didn't feel I was wasting my energy.  The characters are, at times, clich&eacute;d, but I was entertained by all of them enough not to be too bothered by any lack of real substance.  It's a tale of murder, deceit and money, but is told with enough whimsy to make it fully enjoyable.
Despite some initial false assumptions on my part, the plot managed to keep me mostly surprised much of the time.  At first glance, I thought that I was in for a fairly tedious journey, as I wasn't very far into the book when I suddenly figured out what I assumed was a large part of the mystery.  Faced with the prospect of having to read through the entire rest of the story pretending not to know how the murderer had gotten away with it, I began to wonder if perhaps the remainder wouldn't be worth reading.  To my great surprise, while the portion of the mystery that I figured out was fairly well signposted, it didn't turn out to be as important as I had anticipated, and I was greatly pleased that Lord Peter figured out the puzzle not long after I did.  This allowed the story to turn into directions that I hadn't anticipated, and brought me back into the narrative.  There are several clever little moments of storytelling that successfully managed to keep my on my toes, which is an ideal situation for any detective story.
This was the first Dorothy Sayers book that I've read, and I was surprised at how much of the story was conveyed purely through the dialog.  There is almost no description at all and there were times where it seemed as though I was reading a television or a film script.  (Incidentally, this is probably why the series translates so well to visual mediums.)  This did contribute to a feeling of triviality, but it did make the book pass by much more quickly.  This is not a book to be slowly picked apart, but rather one to be enjoyed quickly, in large gulps.  The fast-pace adds to the fanciful flavor and allows the story to rapidly wash over the reader.
I found THE UNPLEASANTNESS AT THE BELLONA CLUB to be a fun and enjoyable, if light, detective adventure.  It's a great little piece of fiction to read on a lazy afternoon, and it should be recommended to any fan of mystery novels.  A short, and fairly unambitious novel, but definitely quite enjoyable.
2780280
zips right along and is fun and suspenseful.  Thornhill writes a good plot and characters to fill the mystery.  no gore just good old-fashioned mystery of who did it, with a diverse cast of characters.
901409
Very good "who done it" mysteries. Characters are enjoyable and believable. Not in the current trend of solving the crime with lab work only. The inspectors actually do the leg work and solve the mystery. Good value for the number of shows you receive.
1441837
Interesting mysteries with a little bit of good natured kidding amongst characters
2464786
This is an engaging series of English Village Mysteries.  It reads like Midsomer Murders (to which there is even an oblique reference!) crossed with Inspector Morse and Hercules Poirot.  Thus far I have been able to figure out Who Dun It by about 50% through the book, on average, but it is still fun to watch the plot unfold.  The victims are deserving of their fates, the cast of suspects are quirky, the inspector and his DS are an interesting match, and the village environs are charming.  Overall, these are an enjoyable read, suitable for the beach, an airplane trip, or a rainy afternoon.
405243
satisfying mystery, with good twists and turns...I recommend it