Green for Danger
Decide its fate
The record
Time
An eveningA season256 pages, about 5 hours: four-fifths the length of a typical book on the shelf.
Getting in
Walk right inSteep climbTwo reviewers report needing two or three chapters to adjust to Brand’s dialogue-heavy style before the book takes hold.
What it gives
Plot and actionIdeas to live byIn 13 reviews from critics and book blogs, 12 credit the plot and none credit the ideas or a change in how they live.
One of a kind
Others do thisNothing else doesThe Cross Examining Crime blog compares it to Ngaio Marsh’s Scales of Justice and Ellery Queen’s The Chinese Orange Mystery, neither on the shelf.
The case for it
on the wartime hospital
“adroitly evokes the wartime atmosphere of the hospital”
Unsigned review · Kirkus Reviews, 2023 on the red herrings
“there are red herrings and hidden motives galore”
five stars · a book blog on Inspector Cockrill
“he is a plodder who recognizes his limits”
a book blog on the plotting
“it’s plotting is so on point”
five stars · a book blog
The case against
on the nurses’ dialogue
“the nurses really do seem to call each other ‘darling’ an awful lot”
a book blog on the characters
“the awkwardness of the characters, many of whom are both unlikeable”
a book blog on the final chapters
“this drags on for another 60 pages past that”
a book blog on the writing style
“Brand’s writing style in Green for Danger took me a while to get used to”
a book blog
