Death of an Aryan (1939)
Blurb:
My review:
The
poison used
to accomplish the murders of the Nazi farmer (by a poisoned nail stuck
through
his shoe) and the jealous cuckold (during a bush fire) is the unusual
ouabain,
derived from Acocanthera schimperii or longiflora, one of many exotic
notes
struck in this tale of colonial Africa (Chania = Kenya?), Nazi
espionage and
animal mutilation—the end, where the hero, Superintendent Vachell, is
trapped
in a leopard cage and shot at is sheer Peter Dickinson.
Huxley’s characterisation is superb,
especially strong on psychological abnormality, but there is an
unpleasant
streak of sadism running through the book like the great, greasy
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