Julian Fellowes, sometimes actor, sometimes writer, sometimes producer -- perhaps best known in the United States for writing and co-producing Altman's GOSFORD PARK -- takes a look at a scandalous murder of a century and a quarter ago and offers his own conclusions.
The whole thing is produced in a dry reconstructive manner. Fellowes gives us the facts as they were offered under testimony but, although very cleverly analyzed and well-produced in an almost DRAGNET-like, just-the-facts manner, it feels empty. The whole story around Bravo's murder leaves me with a feeling that this is not about the death of a man, but a mere puzzle in logic, like a Golden Age murder mystery in which the book was written before the author decided who had done the killing -- and then had gone in to insert the clues. I am left with great admiration for the effort -- but not much interest or pleasure.
If that is your taste in murder mysteries -- and there are many to whom that is the point -- then this should be just your meat. It is not, alas, mine.
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