Not to Disturb by Muriel Spark

This was such a great little book! My second Muriel Spark of recent times, this is the sort of book where you just sort of let the story and the eccentric dialogue wash over you…

Premise: you have a house of servants seemingly waiting for their employers to die in Switzerland. They’re getting their stories straight, recording confessions, and planning their escapes from servitude.

There’s all sorts going on below stairs at this grand Swiss manor: the porter’s lodge couple who are bit separate from all the rest, the mastermind Butler who is pulling all the strings, and the pregnant maid who hints at sexual escapades with houseguests.

This unhealthy group of people are sitting around and staying up for a long vigil while the Baron and Baroness are locked in the library with their lover-secretary. Whatever is going on, nobody is allowed to disturb them, and death seems a done deal.

Violence is planned and they’re trying to keep the house secure from the outside world, but random people keep turning up, including the Reverend who’s there to see “the madman in the attic”!

There are quite a few unexplained moments, but again, I really love this book: it’s just a delicious, satirical nasty little mystery.

It is all just so delightfully a bit bonkers: imagine you’re watching an intelligent play with well-written dialogue, bouncing around from one eccentric character to the next.

I love seeing the different crime fiction genre conventions and ploys brought together in a wonderfully creative way.

This book came out in 1971 and it seems it’s always been a bit of a headscratcher.

One word: crooked.