Farthing

[akirlu]

Zoom. Finished it. For spoilery thoughts on same, look behind the

It's an amazing ride, all right. The pace is excellent; grabs you right at first and then plunges away headlong. It's a bit reminiscent of Gosford Park insofar as both start out setting you up for a cosily familiar drawing room murder sort of thing and then veer off the script to make much more thoughtful and accute social and political commentary. Jo is particularly deft at differentiating the voices of the two narrators, and dividing the story between them seamlessly, one often supplying details the other will never see.

On the whole, possibly a masterpiece, but alas a flawed one, for me.

I actually do wish I wouldn't get caught up in this stuff; it's the Last Replicant problem all over again. Because yes, I'm still on about the niggling details, but several of them really are crucial.

Thing the first: if a victim of carbon monoxide poisoning has acquired the textbook "typical" cherry red coloring, it's supposed to be an all-over phenomenon, not limited to the head and face. You'd see it in the hands, neck, and chest as well. And I don't think going bug-eyed is actually typical of carbon monoxide poisoning in any case.

Second: if you've neglected to pack your riding clothes and need to scrounge some, jodhpurs are nice, perhaps, but something that passes for a heeled riding boot is more crucial. I really can't see somebody who's spent years in the saddle caring about the jodhpurs to the point of utterly forgetting about boots.

Third: there isn't anyplace on an English saddle to hang a shotgun or its holster from, and anyway I'm really pretty dubious about somebody habitually taking a shotgun along to hunt with when riding.

Fourth: The big one, really, aside from the carbon monoxide thing: in order for a shotgun load meant for potting rabbits to take most of somebody's head off, it would have to be discharged at essentially point-blank range. And possibly wouldn't do it then, viz the Cheney lawyer-shooting incident.

Fifth: If you've already seen the ammunition from a .22 rifle, then it isn't going to be looking more closely at the rifle itself that tells you it wasn't a standard Lee-Enfield rifle. .22 rounds are distinctively small.

Like I say, I wish it didn't matter. But the thing is, if you're writing a mystery, even a social commentary in the guise of a mystery, the clues you leave lying around can't be wrong. I really was expecting for a long time that the thing about the point blank head shot would have to be picked up, but it never was, and, well, it's disappointing is all.

Comments

[trinker.livejournal.com]

Alas...

I've seen other commentary noting that the crime scene elements really needed a strong editorial hand - something about gravel.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

What, someone besides me was on about the gravel? Annoyingly, that particular detail isn't even especially relevant to the final disposition of the whodunnit, it's just the one that first kicked me out of the book and made me start noticing other things.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Around here people frequently go riding with shotguns. But it's not riding to ride, it's riding to check the property. I wouldn't know the kind of saddle, but there's usually a uh, sack, I've forgotten the word, that hangs in front on the right that the shotgun goes in. Sometimes they just ride with them tucked in their elbows, though.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Doesn't sound like they're going out for a gallop though -- which is what our characters do. And, the gesture as described doesn't include a holster. The character just turns and hangs the gun on the saddle, as if from a pommel, which an English saddle doesn't have.

English Saddles

[ladyjestocost.livejournal.com]

A bit of a misnomer in some ways anyway, since most people use it for any saddle that isn't Western - in other words any saddle that doesn't have a horn.

But, on any hunting/hacking saddle, there are plenty of rings to hang things from. I would expect you could hang a scabbard of some sort to put a rifle in if you were so inclined. However, I've never heard of anyone doing it - using a rifle from horseback strikes me rather like using a long bow - likely to get in the way of things.

Re: English Saddles

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

But, on any hunting/hacking saddle, there are plenty of rings to hang things from. I would expect you could hang a scabbard of some sort to put a rifle in if you were so inclined.

This is always the problem with a quick description. Yes, if you wanted to spend the time to affix a holster I'm sure there are ways (though I'm damned if I remember anything remotely like rings in *useful* places on the dressage saddles we used,) but the action as described is one of slinging the rifle onto the saddle in a gesture, as if it had a saddle horn, which it wouldn't.