Hare Sitting Up by Michael Innes features identical twins. Miles Juniper is the headmaster of a small prep school and Howard Juniper is a scientist researching chemical weapons. Howard has disappeared and that’s worrying a lot of important people, including the Prime Minister. Sir John Appleby has been instructed by the PM to find Howard with utmost haste. Has he been kidnapped? Has he been murdered? Has he decided to finish the world off with one of his weapons or has someone taken both him and one of his deadly inventions? I have really enjoyed all of Innes’ books so far – apart from this one. I’m afraid I’m only lukewarm about Hare Sitting Up. Appleby involves his wife, Judith, in his quest. I normally enjoy Judith’s appearances yet even that didn’t swing me in favour of the book. If I had to sum up the book in one word, I think the word would be “Irritating”. Miles/Howard needed a smack – I’ve never used the description “naughty boy” for a headmaster before it’s very tempting this time. I shall conjoin the twins because I got confused as third parties described them: was one a real bird-watcher and the other twin a closet one who kept his hobby a secret? Or was it not a secret? Or was one of them pretending? There were definitely birds, though. Lord Ailsworth didn’t strike me as a believable character – someone who allows Donkey Ducks to colonize the drawing-room and wild duck to take over the attics isn’t mad; they are obviously fictional. Although I enjoy the sly erudite humour in the Appleby novels, this bird-loving peer was more suited to PG Wodehouse than a detective novel. Maybe the book caught me in a grumpy mood and you will respond to the humour. Perhaps I will grin rather than sigh next time I read about the Fulvous Whistling Duck. #HareSittingUp #NetGalley