The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side

The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side is an absolute disappointment that utterly fails to deliver on its central promise. Even though it's clearly mentioned in the title, there isn't a single mirror in the book whatsoever! Why would you call a book something like this and then never follow through? It's They Do It with Mirrors all over again!

Besides that, this novel is pretty good.

The Body in the Library

The Body in the Library begins, shockingly enough, with a body in a library. Scandalous!

The servants at Gossington Hall in St. Mary Mead discover a body in the library one morning, sending the household into a tizzy. In the introduction of the book it felt like the story was so preoccupied with its central conceit (that there was a body in the library!) I was worried it would shirk its duty to provide a compelling mystery, but that fortunately turned out to be a misplaced fear.