Hare Sitting Up

As a Michael Innes (J. I. M. Stewart) fan, I was thrilled with the opportunity to read this for the first time. Originally published in 1959, it is being re-published. This is a great era from which to read mysteries. Though not my favourite by this author, this book is unique and spellbinding enough to seriously consider.

This mystery primarily revolves around twin brothers, Howard and Miles. Howard is a professor and biology researcher; Miles is a headmaster. When one disappears the other is involved in finding him with Appleby who is with the police. Other characters are introduced, along with ornithology (study of birds). Parts of the story take place in a rambling manor which houses more birds than people! Howard's research is important and relates to biochemicals. So, you can imagine fascinating plot possibilities.

My rating for this book is 3,5 rounded up to a 4. The book is definitely interesting but it seemed to fall flat in spots and the characters aren't explored enough in my view. However, the brevity likely contributes. My favourite part was the beginning first few chapters. I would have loved more suspense and tension later on.

Readers who gravitate to 1950s mystery books will likely enjoy this book. It's solid but not the best representation of its era out there. Still well worth a read. And that title!

My sincere thank you to Agora Books and NetGalley! Re-publishing and bringing attention to older books is to be lauded.

Spanning a career of fifty years, the Inspector Appleby novels by Michael Innes can be read again and again. This particular story has elements of fellow Scottish author John Buchan in it.
Michael Innes had a great sense of humour which he put to good use in his crime novels. He dispensed with the whodunit formula and created a special niche for himself. Quotes from Shakespeare abound and his characters are often eccentric, if not downright mad.
In this novel there are identical twins, a reclusive Lord, a sinister island off the coast of Scotland, and ducks - lots of ducks. Appleby's wife, Judith, plays a part in the investigation. She's a fabulous character. Great fun to read, intriguing and engaging.

The title of Hare Sitting Up, by Michael Innes, intrigued me; and not less when I saw the phrase within the epigraph, a quote from D.H. Lawrence. The first chapter plunges right into additional intriguing hints as to what the book might prove to be about. A middle-aged schoolmaster shares a train compartment with a group of very recent college graduates, whose freewheeling and combative conversation bounces among such topics as radioactivity in elk bones, misanthropy, bacteriological warfare, and Shakespeare.

With the entrance – the decidedly unconventional entrance – in the following chapter of Inspector Appleby of Scotland Yard, the specific puzzle of the story begins to unfold: the mysterious disappearance of the schoolmaster’s twin brother, a brilliant scientist whose bacteriological research could have dire international implications.

Is it kidnapping? Treachery? Irresponsibility? Insanity? Murder? Appleby’s investigation connects him with characters and situations far outside what I, or most readers, are at all likely to encounter. An eccentric elderly earl with a fanatical obsession with ornithology. Identical twins given to impersonating one another with astonishing success. An island being secretly transformed into missile silos. A scheme to eliminate most of the human race.

In spite of the abundance of the unfamiliar and the implausible, I felt that the story hung together. There was, indeed, an odd (and humorous) episode involving Appleby’s wife, which struck me as less skillfully handled than the rest. By the end of the book, I could see its thematic connections to the whole, but in my view it remained a detraction. Overall, though, I quite enjoyed the book.

Readers who, like me, prefer their fiction without offensive language or unnecessarily detailed misbehavior, will be comfortable with this book. It does help to have the internet handy for looking up unusual vocabulary and Latin quotations!

This is a very clever classic British crime book. Appleby, the head of Scotland Yard is investigating the case of a scientist, Harold Juniper, working on germ warfare, who has disappeared. His disappearance needs to be kept secret. Harold's twin brother, Miles, is the head master of a boys school. Appleby sends his wife to pretend to look at the boys school for her sons to search the school to see if she can find the missing Harold. After she does a thorough search, Appleby goes to see an old Lord Ailsworth, who is crazy about birds. Ailsworth tells Appleby he saw Harold who was on his way to find the extinct Auks which he had heard were on Ardray Island, a Navy private island in the North Atlantic. Appleby goes there and realizes it was a wild goose chase when he hears torpedo tunnels were called Auks.

Returning home, he asks Miles to pretend to be his brother to keep people from knowing that Harold is missing. Appleby had learned that when is school, Harold and Miles often pretended to be each other. At this point, an unsavory man Grindrod, who was in prep school and university with the Junipers is discovered to be about and was following Miles leaving Harold's lab. Appleby must find the missing Junipers before Grindrod finds them or Lord Ailsworth does something crazy.

I have read several of the Inspector Appleby books in the past and this was a good read but, of course, politically of its time. The plots are always quirky and this was even more so than usual - but nevertheless enjoyable and clever. Let's hope more are to be republished and enjoyed by a wider and new readership.

Professor Howard Juniper, highly acclaimed scientist has gone missing. For Sir John Appleby of Scotland Yard the implications are of a serious nature. To the extent that he wishes for Howard's identical twin brother, Miles, to impersonate him for several days. Can the ruse work and will Appleby find Juniper before the press discover the truth. Appleby follows the clues, but will he be in time.
An enjoyable and interesting thriller and mytsery story.
Originally written in 1959
An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I've tried Appleby books before and never really gotten into them. This one, however, was different. Great plot, interesting characters, and it seemed to move along at a good pace. Very much enjoyed!

The Empathetic Appleby Returns.....
The empathetic Appleby returns in this quirky mystery. Scientists, missing persons, a set of twins and a deadly virus. It’s all going on here. Faced with a host of suspects, motives and secrets Appleby sets out to get to the truth. Not as entertaining, for me, as the authors’ more traditional tales but it is enjoyable classic crime with red herrings aplenty, an eccentric cast of well drawn characters and told with author’s trademark dry wit.

Hare Sitting Up - Michael Innes
This is number 18 in the Sir John Appleby series
The story takes place during the Cold-war. In part one a discussion about war, the atom bomb and bacteriological warfare takes place between headmaster Miles Juniper and five young people in a train compart. In part two Miles Juniper is visited by John Appleby. The reason is the disappearance of his twin brother Harold. He is a germ-warfare expert and no one knows if he has been kidnapped, gone mad or just run away. As it is of national interest Appleby persuades Miles to impersonate him while they try to find him. This takes Appleby to a bird fanatic earl, and a remote Atlantic rock before solving the case.
I was very well entertained. It was a both funny and intriguing story, and thanks to Crime Classics Review Club and NetGalley I got to read one more novel in one of my favourite series.

Scientist Howard Juniper has been working on biological weapons for the British government and he's disappeared. Has Howard just taken some time off or is there something more sinister and deadly going on? To avoid a public panic, Scotland Yard's Inspector John Appleby enlists Howard's twin Miles, a school headmaster, to impersonate his missing brother. Appleby's frantic seach for Howard takes him to an eccentric aristocrat's bird-filled decaying manor and to a secret government installation off Scotland's coast. "Hare Sitting Up" was originally published in 1959 during Cold War tensions and fears. With that world in mind, it's a taunt book that keeps readers engaged.

Again Michael Innes dose not fail to entertain, this book really is a red herring from start to finish. again we have a Inspector Appleby mystery and to give a quick resume of the book would spoil the ending, suffice to say that if you read this book your in for a very wild ride.
Very enjoyable book

Michael Innes first published this book in 1959. The fascinating thing, though, is that this story is fairly relevant today. In this installment, Sir John Appleby tracks a rogue scientist, Howard Juniper, who has gone missing, possibly with a deadly bioweapon in his possession. Why did he disappear? Was he kidnapped? Did he walk away of his own volition? Is he ill and wandering aimlessly? Was he forced to flee? Will he unleash a deadly plague on mankind? Appleby is not sure, and his job is to keep this disappearance out of the public light so that sheer pandemonium doesn't erupt. Thank goodness that Howard Juniper has an identical twin! Or maybe that isn't such a great thing...Inspector Appleby has to get to the bottom of the mystery, and time is not on his side. What a fun read! I love all the Appleby books, and I recommend this one to all fans of classic crime fiction.