As we’re accustomed to from Terry, dinner last night was a fulsome affair, featuring tidbits from all strata of English society. Greeted with a Pimms cocktail, we were then directed to appetizer plates of crustless cucumber sandwiches. Both reflected the novel’s opening: an engagement party hosted by and for London’s elite. The meal that followed, however, was good old-fashioned England: roast sirloin, crispy roast potatoes with fried onions, mushy peas, and a green salad. Terry’s dessert was his hat tip to the Metropolitan Police, as he made a lavender shortbread favored by DI Caius Beauchamp and his colleagues. All in all, an excellent repast!
Our Discussion and Review of Vassell’s The In Crowd
The In Crowd earned the 2025 Edgar Award for Best Novel. That was enough to make our reading list, but not enough to win even lukewarm applause from most of us.
Set in modern-day London, The In Crowd begins as a police procedural, but devolves into a sometimes clever and often tedious exploration of class manners, social climbing, diverse workplaces, and interracial romance (and breeding!). The plot consists of two different investigations that predictably merge into one climactic outcome: who embezzled a pension fund 30 years ago and, more recently, killed the one witness who might know the answer? And who killed or kidnapped a boarding school girl 20 years ago?
While Jack and I felt the story was—for its genre!—reasonably well-told (Jack found it entertaining; I enjoyed the London references), others were less enthusiastic. Glenn deemed it predictable, Stan found it banal, Tom thought it was merely OK, and Doug called it contrived. Messaging us from Vienna, Larry asked the perfectly rational question: “Why again are we reading this book?” Forced to defend his choice, Terry harkened back to his Pearson days, when he worked for an English lord and developed an affinity for English manners.
The award for Back-Handed Compliment of the Evening goes to Paul, who likened our novel to an episode of Charlie’s Angels, where the detective work was always secondary to the eye candy on screen. But expecting Callie to stand in for Farah Fawcett? That was a bridge too far, even for Paul.
Rating The In Crowd
Edgar Award notwithstanding, The In Crowd simply didn’t meet our lofty standards (irony intended). No surprise then that it notched a mere 5.4, placing it firmly in the bottom quintile of our books rated.
Next Up: The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
Thanks to Stan, we read Proulx’s Close Range: Wyoming Stories years ago and were duly impressed. So it’s about time we turned our attention to her critically acclaimed The Shipping News. Roy’s other choices (Lord Jim, Memoirs of Stockholm Sven, and The Sisters Brothers) didn’t make the cut, but Stan has promised to read Lord Jim and tell us what we missed. Right, Stan?
