cover image Myself and Michael Innes: A Memoir

Myself and Michael Innes: A Memoir

J. I. M. Stewart. W. W. Norton & Company, $17.95 (206pp) ISBN 978-0-393-02593-4

A retired professor who has taught in Britain, Australia, Northern Ireland and America, James Stewart has written novels and books of literary criticism but is better known as Michael Innes, author of tales of mystery, adventure and detection. In this tantalizingly brief memoir of his boyhood in Edinburgh, student years at Oxford and teaching experiences, he presents anecdotes and vignettes about mentors, associates, neighbors and acquaintances but tells very little about his personal life, his wife and five children. That he also includes a radio script, a short story and a scanty excursus on the detective story will hardly satisfy admirers of this clever, witty novelist. Photos. (July)