The House Of The Arrow

Written by A. E. W. Mason

Narrated by Geoffrey Giuliano and The Orb

A young English girl is accused in Dijon of murdering her French aunt. Hanaud to the rescue! Inspector Hanaud is a member of the French Sûreté. He is said to have been the model for Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, as well as the opposite of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. In 1910, Mason undertook to create a fictional detective as different as possible from Sherlock Holmes, who had recently been resuscitated after his supposed death by Arthur Conan Doyle in 1903. Inspector Gabriel Hanaud was stout, not gaunt like Holmes; a professional policeman, not a gentleman amateur; from the French Sûreté, not Victorian England; and relying on psychological insights rather than physical evidence. His "Watson" is a retired London banker named Mr. Julius Ricardo, though he appears only briefly in this novel.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Icon Audio Arts
• Release date: Dec 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9798887676265

A. E. W. Mason

A.E.W. Mason (1865-1948) was an English novelist, short story writer and politician. He was born in England and studied at Dulwich College and Trinity College, Oxford. As a young man he participated in many extracurricular activities including sports, acting and writing. He published his first novel, A Romance of Wastdale, in 1895 followed by better known works The Four Feathers (1902) and At The Villa Rose (1910). During his career, Mason published more than 20 books as well as plays, short stories and articles.

Reviews for The House Of The Arrow

[philsyphe · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In this third instalment of the Hanaud series (but the second novel-length tale) the famous French inspector is searching, solving, and sorting matters is his own unique way, succeeding where others have failed.Hanaud is an interesting and engaging character, appearing comical one minute, woeful the next, and wrathful the next. Mr Mason has done a good job with his lead actor, making Hanaud likeable and believable. Certain elements of this tale resemble those in Book 1 – “At the Villa Rose” – in that the initial investigation centres on the murder of a middle-aged woman who has a young female companion living with her in a large home. Other elements here are also repeated from Book 1 but won’t mention any more for fear of revealing spoilers. Also similar to “At the Villa Rose”, I worked out early on who was *not* guilty of murder and who *was* the guilty party. I also guessed another evil-doer soon after their appearance. This doesn’t mean the story on the whole is too predictable or unoriginal, as the plotting is very well worked out. Knowing who is or is not guilty is one thing, yet finding out how one character is proved to be at fault and how another is set to prove their innocence is another matter.Despite my admiration for the author’s plotting skills, I think I would’ve like this better with more action/dramatization and less explaining/guessing about things. Additionally, I feel that a certain desperate and dangerous situation for a character (who I won’t name for spoiler reasons) is resolved too quickly. The author would’ve created more suspense and enthrallment by squeezing more out of this scenario and preferably not reveal everything so early as the subsequent chapter is robbed of all suspense with the reader knowing how things will transpire. In short, two later chapters would’ve been more effective if swapped around and been vividly dramatized rather than being recalled and explained. As a result, I rate this novel 4 stars rather than the 5 that it has the potential for. “At the Villa Rose” appealed to me greatly, while “The House of the Arrow” just appeals to me.