What do You think about How Like An Angel (2000)?
I tend not to read too many mysteries. Too often I find the plot and characters merely window dressing, and the central driving force of the plot a mystery or "puzzle" that is largely an intellectual exercise for the reader. I prefer crime fiction in which there is no real mystery, and instead of being a puzzle to be solved, the plot is a labyrinth in which characters struggle to reach the end.Margaret Millar's How Like an Angel was a great reminder that any genre can be good when it is done well. Nearly every page of this book presents questions that the reader can't help but try to answer, but the characters, writing style, and story were all still immensely satisfying. Also, the way the mystery unravels was especially well done, I thought. There is no single "a-ha" moment in which a detective reveals the killer. Rather, the solution to the mystery unfolds in a natural, satisfying fashion. Depending on the reader, the solution might present itself on the first page of the last chapter or the last page of the last chapter (assuming they haven't worked it out sooner).Millar is a great mystery writer. This is the first of her novels I've read, but it probably won't be the last.
—Adam
