Gilbert Adair is a writer whom Iris Murdoch called "the last esthete of modern fiction." His style, light without frivolity and “literary” without pomp, does not captivate the reader with the simplicity of spontaneity, but draws him, as if into a web, into the interweaving of thoughts and feelings, emotions - and impressions. Reading Adair’s prose is pleasant, desperately interesting and - fascinating at the best sense of the word. Many people are trying to turn detective stories into a brilliantly intellectual “mind game” - or, conversely, to stylize intellectual prose into a classic detective story. However, few people managed to do this as easily and gracefully as Gilbert Adair did in the novel “The Key to the Tower”.... The story of the mysterious exchange of cars between two middle-aged, sad people seems at first just a curious anecdote. It seems. At first...