The pilot of the captured spaceship must be:
strong, long-armed and large-handed - like a giant;
able not only to read very small display panels but also to turn a key at the bottom of a small, narrow hole - like a dwarf.
Clues to the pilot's nature accumulate.
Van Rijn practices detective skills like Poirot. Van Rijn and Poirot are Catholics, are not native English/Anglic speakers and are first seen late in their careers. However, their differences are more numerous than their similarities. Poirot is known through cinema and TV. Van Rijn should be.
I prefer sf to detective fiction. In particular, I dislike the crossword puzzle aspect of detective fiction, having to reread passages in earlier chapters in search of the clues that are supposed to be there.
Addendum: After I published this post, Poirot was on TV in the episode where he walks out of our local Midland Hotel in Morecambe.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
What you said here about mysteries seems to be mostly a matter of taste. The very nature of the genre seems to require written mysteries to have that crossword puzzle aspect. I can imagine fans being willing to reread chapters of a mystery as they try to figure out the clues and solution to a mystery.
I used to be a big mystery reader, and I still have the mysteries of G.K. Chesterton, Robert van Gulik, John Dickson Carr, A. Conan Doyle. And a few others.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: ah, Judge Dee!
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Indeed! I like Judge Dee! And the judge was a real, historical person! And the glimpses we get of Chinese law and criminal procedure were fascinating.
Ad astra! Sean
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