The Dead Mountaineer's Inn: One More Last Rite for the Detective Genre

Creates a great aura of mystique and eccentricity, but doesn't ultimately live up to the promise that atmosphere creates. Still, I could've read like 500 more pages.

This is an English translation of the Russian classic.On the surface you have a fascinating Science Fiction murder mystery. But when you dig deeper and find out this was written under the Stalin regime, it is amazing what the Strugatsky brothers were able to craft and get through the censors.Very well crafted fusion of Sci-Fi and Mystery which is less concerned with the nature of ET and more interested in the human response to a close encounter.

Difficult to get into, but once in, intriguing! I had never heard of these authors, but, even in translation, the writing is good, the plot impossible to fathom out until you get there (good detective writing!) I'll probably explore some more of their works.

A good read, though for all the press it's gotten lately I expected more. Fairly standard crime plot takes a weird third act turn to sci-fi; For all the strange things that were happening, I was expecting it to turn into Rocky Horror, but instead it was simply that wild-haired dude from the history channel.

So glad it was re-published in the new English translation! The original English publication is impossible to obtain.This may not be a particularly strong detective fiction novel, if viewed strictly as a specimen of that genre. On the other hand, it is a Strugatsky work, with their vintage mix of humor, melancholy, and thoughtfulness. For those who count brothers Strugatsky among the world's notable science fiction writers - a treat that was long unavailable in English. A good translation too.

I loved this book. If you are looking for something lighter and sort of goofy, this book does a good job. Even as the book gets more serious, the ridiculousness of the situation continues to make the book feel lighthearted. Enjoyed this book very much. If you are looking for straight crime, this isn't the book for you. There is a strong element of science fiction/ fantasy, especially near the end.

Wonderfully translated maintaining the meaning of many wordplays. The story developed gradually slowly explaining itself to the reader. However the ending was rather abrupt and sudden. Would recommend to any fan of science fiction and mystery stories.

This is a good locked room mystery novel, that takes a left turn.

The mystery at its heart pretends to be a mystery story a la Agatha Christie but is actually a sci fi novel about the future of humanity and the planet earth. A group of eccentric rich people are vacationing at an historic inn when a murder is committed. But the murder is a decoy a disguise as the author states "No ghouls. no mumbo jumbo..just solid science fiction..they came from Venus(214pp). The science fiction theme is infused with ideas of murders, crime and gangsterism and the type of place the planet earth is being transformed into""I had no reason to expect help would come from anywhere..gangsters were likely to fly.."(pp 213). The tale is mixed with mystery as the cold war is ending spies, crime, internation wars, and the earth is being watched by intergalaxctic warriors attempting to make a first contact on planet earth for a takeover of some sort. Gone are the days of soviet class war as gangsterism is on the rise and here we see at the novel's end the demise of communism and the victory of the proletariat as criminals and gangsters have won the way with their use of hi tech, robotics, and we understand why soviet authorities did not take kindly to this tale. The late great planet earth is seen in its demise in what is more than just a mystery story of a suspicious death at a mountain resort. RECOMMENDED.

5 stars not just for the book but also the delivery.I've been wanting to read this book for a long time and I hate reading online. Thanks to the sellers, I got my copy and got it relatively cheap!As far as the book goes, it is the least whacky of all Strugatsky brothers that I've read till now but still holds its place. The fact that they got tired of censors and wrote this seems obvious in the narrative (isolation). It's also their attempt at dark humour, different from Monday starts on a Saturday. I'd recommend it if you are a Strugatsky fan.

Probably the most important novel of the 20th century.Poignant, deeply moving and life affirming.

Not having a sense of precisely what you're getting at the start of Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's lone mystery novel The Dead Mountaineer's Inn is both a good idea and a bad one. But let's say this: if you're looking for an interesting mystery novel approached from an uncommon perspective, do no read this. However, if you're a fan of the bothers' SF writings and are keen to see how they bring their insight to a different genre....also do not read this.For much of its duration it is a classical detective story: group of strangers gathered in an isolated location, all may not be what it seems, someone is murdered, whodunnit? The tone is light and skilfully translated by Josh Billings, but there's nothing outright comedic about any of it -- the closest it comes to a joke is the running uncertainty over the gender of the character Brun, and that just becomes part of the background after a while and doesn't really go anywhere once resolved. It is, to all intents, played remarkably straight, and then throws in a baffling murder in a locked room for our holidaying policeman Peter Glebsky to try and figure his way around.This, however, is very much not the novel that then gets resolved. Because in the final straight it...changes. I do not wish to give it away, but if you've come to this for the crime then you will go away extremely disappointed, and if you've come for the direction it takes (very, very late in the day, it has to be said) then I don't see what you'll get out of the first 13 chapters. Perhaps it's satire, but if so then there's no point to it. Perhaps it's a challenge to the conventions of the detective genre, but if so they've already been perfectly challenged by the likes of Leo Bruce and Kelley Roos. The subtitle -- A Last Rite for the Detective Story -- certainly implies that the Brothers Strugatsky think they're making some kind of point, but whatever it is doesn't translate well outside of 1970s, censor-dominated Russia.And it's a shame, because the writing is superb and the situation skilfully constructed, only for it all the be thrown away in some B-movie final bait-and-switch that makes no sense and serves no purpose. Or maybe that's the point; maybe the need for narrative structures to have consistent through-lines and arcs for each phase and aspect, maybe the convention of the gun on the wall in act one being fired by act three, maybe that idea of progression is what's being deconstructed. But, frankly, who wants to read a book where that happens?

I won't put spoilers out into a review. Enough to say, if you love whodunits read this. You will have quite the surprise at the end