(A Yorkshire Murder Mystery Book 10)
by J. R. Ellis
If you have a series of books you enjoy particularly, you know how happy I was when I found out (once again through Monica's blog - thank you!) that the 10th book in the Yorkshire Murder Mystery series was available. (My review for # 9 is here.)
I believe I bought it at Amazon's Kindle shop the same day, but "had to" finish another book on my device before I started this one.
And the timing couldn't have been better: The story is set in and around Saltaire and the canal (as the title suggests), where a murder happens among the small community of people who live on canal boats that are more or less permanently moored in the basin near the famous Saltaire Mill, a UNESCO world heritage place. Most of the story happens in autumn, with descriptions of the stillness of the canal on a beautiful day but also the bleak feeling under a solid grey sky with rain pelting down on the water and the roofs of the canal boats.
At the same time, I was looking almost daily at pictures from Saltaire and the canal in all its autumn glory on the blog "Salt & Light", where fellow blogger "jennyfreckles" shows her readers the very places I was reading about in the book. Also, on my walks during the past couple of weeks, I experienced the colourful leaves and mellow golden sunshine myself. So it all added up, and I enjoyed the book all the more for that.
The story is a typical case for DCI Oldroyd, the genre known as a classic "Locked Room" mystery: A murder is committed, but circumstances make it appear impossible that anyone got near the victim, committed the crime and then got away.
In this case, the first murder happens on board of a canal boat, but forensic evidence shows no trace of a second person, and the victim very clearly could not have killed herself.
The woman was part of a folk band when she was young, and some of her former band mates also live on the canal. They are all friends, but when Oldroyd and his trusted team start to investigate, the list of suspects grows longer by the minute, including her friends.
Was it greed, a political motive, or a crime of passion?
Then a second person is found murdered, and the investigating team really need to pick up the pace. In the end, Oldroyd works out the "Who" only at the very last minute, even though the "How" is clear to him relatively early on.
It is a good read, and I enjoyed meeting Oldroyd, his team and his family again.
One thing I found lacking a bit: Oldroyd's partner wants a cat, and indeed they get a pair of young kittens, which at first are described with their antics and how Oldroyd reacts to them. But then, there is no mention of them anymore, even though his daughter stays at their house as a guest for a few days, and I would have expected her to come across the kittens, of course. But that's just me, probably :-)
Hopefully, I won't have to wait too long for book no. 11.
It's great to have a series you enjoy. My library did not continue to add to their J.R. Ellis collection after the first ones in the series that I requested they buy. So unless they change that, I won't be reading any more of this series. Luckily, there are many, many other books that keep me going! ;) Have a good week, Meike!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ellen! I like it that you keep supporting your library. Too many people (myself included) either buy books or exchange them with family and friends.
DeleteInteresting! I don't know this series but I should take a look at it. I also didn't know there was a "Salt & Light" blog, so similar to my own "Shadows & Light." Ha!
ReplyDeleteYes, have a look at "Salt & Light" - beautiful photos there, and I keep saying I want to visit Saltaire myself (last but not least to see the David Hockney paintings I believe they permanently have on display at the Mill).
DeleteBlogger is acting weird...I left a comment earlier and it has disappeared. Trying again!
ReplyDeleteSorry, Jennifer - no comment from you in Spam or moderation or anything.
DeleteYou may smile when I say that at first I thought the whole series was written about murders on that particular little group of canal boats, and was thinking "blimey, that seems a bit unlikely!" ( I now realise of course that it was just one story in a Yorkshire series with many different locations for the murders. ) But it got me thinking that a canal - the whole length of a canal - would be a really good setting for murder mysteries. If you walk or cycle along canals as I sometimes do, there are so many highly individualistic boats, and they are so small, and you see them so close up, that you can get an idea of the very different lives the boats' owners and inhabitants lead. Sometimes the boats are in settled communities where everyone knows each other. Other times, boats come and go, even for just one single night. Or there are moorings at pubs.... or boat gatherings..... plenty of scope!
ReplyDeleteThe only canal I am really familiar with is the Ripon canal, with its basin at the bottom of the town centre across a bridge over the Ure. I like that walk, especially once you're out of the town and have fields and meadows on the sides.
DeleteI agree that there is a lot of potential for a series of mysteries in a canal setting!