Julie Morvitz

I actually really liked Death and the Compass. I read it more slowly than I usually read these stories, and I think this helped me understand it from the beginning. Although it did start in the middle of a story, I picked up what was going on quickly and the mystery made me want to read on. When Lonnrot was walking through the grounds towards what he thought was the end to the killings, I had a feeling it was a setup. Lonnrot had thought he solved the mystery, but Scharlach really just led him right to him. I think the reason that Scharlach had for tracking Lonnrot down in the first place wasn’t a good enough reason- Lonnrot had put his brother in jail. I think there should have been a stronger reason; if there was an actual murder that Lonnrot had committed, Scharlach would have been more justified in his actions.
Of course there was a labyrinth involved in the story; the pattern of the killings was considered a labyrinth, but so was the setup of the villa grounds. It seemed like it was growing, but it was different from other labyrinths in that Lonnrot knew the sides were symmetrical, so the grounds were somewhat predictable.