A Morbid Taste for Bones
Decide its fate
The record
Time
An eveningA season208 pages, about 4 hours: two-thirds the length of a typical book on the shelf.
Getting in
Walk right inSteep climbOne reader reports repeatedly losing focus in the early chapters, before the murder takes place.
What it gives
Plot and actionIdeas to live byIn 10 reviews from critics and book blogs, 3 credit the plot and 2 credit the ideas or a change in how they live.
One of a kind
Others do thisNothing else doesThe Name of the Rose, on the shelf at 518 pages, is named as taking the same ecclesiastical politics further.
The case for it
on Peredur and Sioned
“there’s something rather touching about Peredur and his thwarted passion for Sioned.”
four stars · a book blog on the Welsh village
“I loved the way Peters portrays life in a small Welsh community”
a book blog on the opening pages
“I was fully engaged within two paragraphs, and chuckling to myself by page ten.”
a book blog on Prior Robert’s ambition
“the ambitious prior’s game-plan for advancement requires a saint, any saint.”
Kirkus Reviews, 1977
The case against
on the romantic subplots
“the introduction of romantic subplots may come off as manipulative and repetitive”
a book blog on the supporting cast
“Shallow, hollow, like a man alone in a world of puppets.”
a book blog on the pace
“It takes an age to get going”
a book blog on the dialogue
“the dialogue waxes exceedingly biblical in tone”
The Mystery FANcier, 1980
