The Poisoned Chocolates Case

⚖The case for it

Berkeley's wittiest novel. An amateur crime club considers a real poisoning case, and each member proposes a different solution, each seemingly airtight. A formal experiment in the relativity of guilt and the limits of deductive logic. P.D. James called it "one of the most original crime novels of the 20th century."

— the canon

✕The case against

Ingenious is the word, and also the limit. Berkeley's six club members exist to hold theories; nobody in the book is a person, the victim least of all, and each solution requires re-walking the same evidence. As a demolition of detective-story logic it is perfect. As a novel it has the emotional temperature of a crossword.

— the honest librarian