An okay story, centered on the supposed suicide of a man who didn't seem to be a very nice one. No one liked him, many around him hated him and he himself acknowledges his misdeeds as the story unfolds. I found it ok, with some witty writing (one character is described as reminding the narrator of a sea lion, and when he comes forward to shake hands he "extends his flippers") but lots of long passages that don't really move the story along. It's one of those "to each his own" instances and I wouldn't add it to my 100 Best Mystery Books, as H.R.F. Keating did.

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