Following "Merryll Manning: Trapped on Mystery Island", this is the second in the twelve-book "Merryll Manning" series, and the first time this novel has been published in paperback. The Novel went through two hardcover editions and received a number of most favorable reviews, including Anthony Puxty in The Newcastle Herald ("Most exuberantly conceived... A very good mystery indeed... The author shows a firm grasp of character, incident and suspense") and Leonard Ward in The Times: "An inventive mystery set in a thinly disguised Blackheath in Australia's Blue Mountain, this novel deserves our strong commendation...Author John Howard Reid displays a very fertile imagination and considerable powers of invention."

everyone who loves a good mystery.

was described as another Agatha Christie by Selwa Anthony in Book Review and other commentators. American critic, Richard Deutch, however, did not agree. "Some have likened John Howard Reid to Agatha Christie, but this is unfair to Mr Reid," Deutch responded in The Sunday Telegraph. "If Reid needs comparison," he added, "his novels should be compared to the best of Graham Greene."

it is a most suspenseful and entertaining read.

it makes other mystery novels seem both tame and poorly written in comparison.

Here is the complete review by Anthony Puxty, as published in "The Newcastle Herald": A HEALTHY DOSE OF MYSTERY: In reviewing his earlier novel, I remarked that John Howard Reid, the author of "Merryll Manning: Trapped on Mystery Island", showed a firm grasp of character, incident and suspense. These qualities are again evident in "Merryll Manning: The Health Farm Murders". Now, however, they are set in a longer and more complex novel where the characters have the freedom to develop and the plot has more twistings and turnings in which intrigue can lurk.

13 people have booked into Sister Susan’s Health Farm for a week’s lessons in keeping fit. They are among the oddest and most exuberantly conceived bunch imaginable. They include an alcoholic priest (Father George McDonald), a gluttonous minister (Kevin "Tubby" Holloway) from an unheard-of sect, an astrologer (Erasmus J. Hopkins), a yarn-spinning ship’s captain (Lester Jurd), and two public servants (Bill and Jack Seabrook) who are so dull they are almost unconscious.

But barely have they all arived at the farm before one of the guests dies, closely followed by another. To the suspects the reader has to choose from, one must add the thick-witted local police officer (Sergeant George Lambert) and a notorious home-grown criminal (James J. "Jimbo" Punter).

The solution of the murders, though unexpected, is a little confusing. [This has since been rectified]. But this is all that stops "Merryll Manning: The Health Farm Murders" from being a very good mystery indeed.

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Created Dec 04, 2008 at 12:50am • Submit your own review...