Stephen Weeks

"Ghost Story" is a very strange film, with an oddly disassociated atmosphere in which very little of note happens. Set in 1930's England it sees McFayden (Murray Melvin) inviting two former college friends - Duller (Vivian MacKerrell) and Talbot (Larry Dann) - to the country mansion which he's just inherited. Talbot begins to suffer visions about the former occupants of the mansion and begins to believe he's being haunted by a porcelain doll from the visions. Co-written by Philip Norman, Rosemary Sutcliff and director Stephen Weeks, the film feels as if the trio wrote three different scripts and tried to ram them together into one movie - very little within the script makes sense, elements contradict each other, there is no narrative flow, it's difficult to discern who's haunting who and why and the pacing supplied by Weeks is desperately funereal. There is nothing scary about the film, even the scenes which were meant to create a fission are lacking in tension. It is nicely shot, however, and has a loud, mostly inappropriate score that is often at odds with the on-screen pictures. You anticipate that it will all come together into a satisfying whole, but it never does; never even comes close. Vivian MacKerrell and Talbot Larry Dann are both deadly dull in the lead roles but the great Murray Melvin rescues everything with another of his trademark eccentric performances. Marianne Faithfull and Penelope Keith, both turn up in smaller roles. Overall "Ghost Story" is a confused mess, with a poor story that lacked both logic or anything that approach a frightening scene. Everything about it forced and awkward, all of which added up in an odd, out of sync atmosphere. It has the great Murray Melvin in it, however, who can rescue even the direst material and for his performance alone it's worth watching.… (mais)

I enjoyed the book, and I certainly intend to read the next. I love the fact that this is set in a time and place not usually used in English language mysteries. I am what someone once called an anthropological mystery reader, that it someone most attracted to mysteries set in a time or place different from my own. I also like that Beatrice, while generally a strong person, has her moments of weakness or despair, without having, as is so common today, some ghastly problem that renders her either difficult to like or implausible as a successful character.

The plot, characterization, and setting, as she worked on the two mysteries, were extremely rich and and satisfying. It was wonderful following Beatrice around. What I found disappointing, is that in the end, I didn't really understand what the point of all this was. It wasn't bad enough to ruin the story for me, just bewildering.… (mais)