The Man in the Brown Suit

Enjoyed this book thoroughly, primarily due to the frolicking and engaging narrative voices of both protagonist Anne Beddingfield and secondary character, Sir Eustace Pedlar. Sometimes the adventure got a little too out of hand and I started to lose track of exactly which African city were our characters in now, or heading towards, but it didn't take away anything from the mystery and the plot.

This was pretty good! I read this before in probably middle school, so didn't remember anything. I think I confused it with They Came To Baghdad, too, because I was thinking it was middle eastern, not African. Anyhow.

This was a fun story. Very twisty and lots of happening to be in the right place at the right time. Anne is a fun character to be in the head of.

There's, of course, some sexism and racism since it's from 1924 and a lot takes place in South Africa, Botswana, and Rhodesia (they go to Rhodes' grave...). But it's not terrible all things considered.

Absolutely riveting! This is a story told from several POVs, traveling from England to Africa, including both mystery, adventure, and romance. It has lovely humor and is partly very scary. Absolutely wonderful. :-DI was thinking about Ken Follett's [b:Eye of the Needle 92364 Eye of the Needle Ken Follett https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327939511l/92364.SY75.jpg 395229] quite a bit.The climax was a roller coaster, full of twists :-D She must have had fun writing it. :-D Damned giraffe, indeed :-D

Generally I liked the plot and adventure of this one, as well as the dual-narration. The two narrators are both entertaining. The mystery itself is different than a detective novel, which I liked.

The trouble I had with this book were Anne's views on men and women, marriage, and attraction. It honestly made me very uncomfortable at multiple points. She falls in love with a violent guy after meeting him once and believing he is a murderer. Then she fantasizes about him hurting her and says that women are weak and men are strong, which is why women are attracted to them. Then the novel ends with her blaming the victim for being the kind of woman who deserves to die for leading a guy on and her forgiving the villain's murderous ways because she finds his personality charming (even though he tried to kill her multiple times!).

The excerpts:

“...I knew that the danger was real. Just as that moment he hated me. But I knew that I loved the danger, loved the feeling of his hands on my throat. That I would not have exchanged that moment for any other moment in my life.”

“I'd die for him. I'd work for him, slave for him, steal for him, even beg and borrow for him!”

“You think you admire moral qualities, but when you fall in love you revert to the primitively where the physical is all that counts.”

“My god! Anne, if you ever marry any one else but me, I'll wring his neck. And as for you–“
“Yes,” I said, pleasurably excited.
“I shall carry you away and beat you black and blue!”

“As for Nadina, she was the kind of woman who deserved to die. Men do all sorts of questionable things in order to get rich, but women shouldn't pretend to be in love when they aren't for ulterior motives. I can forgive sir Eustace easily enough, but I shall never forgive Nadina. Never, never, never.”

I want to say it is merely a reflection of the time, but I think it is also a reflection of Agatha Christie. Not to mention the unkind references to the native Africans...this book made me uncomfortable many times over.