First published in 1936, Death at the President’s Lodging is both author Michael Innes first novel and the first book in his Inspector Appleby series. The body of the President of St. Anthony’s College is discovered in his study, and it’s appearance appears rather staged as his head is swathed in an academic gown and his body is surrounded by bones. The suspect list is narrowed down to seven men, the only ones with keys to the area surrounding the study and Inspector Appleby is called in to investigate.

The book is set totally within St. Anthony’s College, with a map of the college and it’s grounds supplied at the beginning of the book. With seven suspects I thought I would be able to figure out who the murderer was but I was totally in the dark. The plot was very clever but I wasn’t such a fan of the intricate discussions that occurred among the academics, a little too high-brow for me. The mystery was slowly put together by Appleby who comes across as an intelligent gentlemanly detective who relies upon his brain to work out the clues.

Death at the President’s Lodging is both a creative and complex mystery that takes full advantage of it’s academic atmosphere. I have previously read a couple of Michael Innes stand-alone mysteries and I have a couple of the Appleby series on my Kindle so I will definitely be reading more from this golden-age author. ( )

Innes's first Appleby mystery is not my favorite by a long shot. It tries to hard to distance itself from detective fiction with elaborate meta-commentary, every character is described in arch pseudo-psychological style, the mystery is a locked room murder but tied up repeatedly in the minute by minute analysis of every suspect's movements, and the solution, while admirably complex, also depends far too much on multiple characters doing actions that later they confess was hard to defend. Also, the repeated mention of how challenging Appleby found this case because of all the suspects were academics and hence more intelligent than the average person is both incredibly elitist and simply untrue. Perhaps that was meant satirically (by the author, not Appleby) but it still left me annoyed.

OK for completists and those for whom a cozy British murder novel can do no wrong. ( )

It was a great read and I enjoyed so much of it. I loved spending time at St. Anthony’s with all of these gentlemen and I did not find Appleby to be some retread of any other inspector. I liked the setting and the writing and the crime, but yes, I admit, the denouement needed a bit more work. I would happily read Appleby stories again. Recommended for bright readers, vintage mystery fans, and for readers who do not get frustrated at subtle humor. The reader is not going to be spoonfed – to speak technically. ( )

Probably read this when I was in grad school, but I no longer remembered it. Just read it again. It was fun and Innes is a very good writer but this was not nearly as good as the later books in the series. This one was drenched in academicism and the mystery plot was pretty close to ridiculous. ( )

This is my first book in this series about which I heard a lot of good things and probably not my last one. Very well constructed secret of a locked room.

Before I get to the proper review, I need to make clear one thing. English is not my native language, but I have been reading books in English for years and it doesn't seem too difficult for me. That is why I was surprised when it turned out that this book requires much more of my attention and effort than usual. When I thought about it seriously, I realized that this is probably the oldest book I read in English. I am quite astonished at this. I don't know if it is due to the period in which it was written or the specific writing style of Michael Innes, but the language in which this book was written is a bit complicated. Very beautiful, but not easy for someone who is not a native speaker. It is full of intricate stylistic constructions, archaisms and words very rarely used in modern English. I had to get used to it. And devote more attention to this book than I usually do with other detective stories.

Despite this, I fully appreciate the well-constructed murder mystery that only a very limited number of people could commit. If I have any weakness when it comes to crime stories, I love it when different people tell their version of events one after the other, and these versions are completely unlike. The detective must decide which version is true or closest to the truth. I love this theme. And we have something like this here. Every now and then someone tells his version of the events on the night of the murder and then tells a completely different version as more clues and evidence are found. And the evidences are most of the time revealed intentionally or fabricated. Most of the time nothing makes sense. It's really a well-constructed mystery.

And not without some humor. First of all, we have a group of very characteristic and expressive characters, many of whom have comic features. There are also many funny scenes and dialogues. And even the whole thread that, although it adds nothing to the case, is an amusing interlude. Of course, I am talking about a group of pupils taking their chance in solving the case.

As for the ending, I really like it. It is not completely reliable but it perfectly matches all the events in the book and the relations between the characters. And again we have here the same story told by different people from different perspectives. I had a great time reading these last chapters.

The next book in this series is on my short TBR pile because of one of my reading challenges. I am not sure if I will read it right after this one but I will definitely do it soon. I hope it will be equally good. ( )