Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Never Trust a Dead Man by Vivian Vande Velde
Never Trust a Dead Man is another slim volume by Vivian Vande Velde. This lovely little book is a mystery. Farold is dead and Selwyn is found guilty of murdering him; no villager actually wants to kill Selwyn so they blockade him in the tomb with Farold so he can die on his own...alone in a cave with lots of dead bodies from fresh to ancient.
A witch brings Selwyn out of the cave and brings Farold back as a bat and the two men set out to solve the mystery of Farold's murder. Selwyn has been very naive and has never applied deep motives to anything the other villagers have done. In disguise he reenters the village and gets an education on how the other villagers are real people with their own petty intigues and problems. Instead of instantly finding the culprit and becoming a hero, Selwyn founders deeper and deeper in possible suspects until the suddenly obvious ending.
Well written and hilarious. Not creepy.
A witch brings Selwyn out of the cave and brings Farold back as a bat and the two men set out to solve the mystery of Farold's murder. Selwyn has been very naive and has never applied deep motives to anything the other villagers have done. In disguise he reenters the village and gets an education on how the other villagers are real people with their own petty intigues and problems. Instead of instantly finding the culprit and becoming a hero, Selwyn founders deeper and deeper in possible suspects until the suddenly obvious ending.
Well written and hilarious. Not creepy.
# posted by JJ @ 5:53 PM 
