J.R. Ellis
It was through Monica's blog that I came across this series of Yorkshire Murder Mysteries, and of course I had to read them! There are five of them available at Amazon's Kindle shop, and I bought them all. My Kindle reading is mostly reserved for travelling, on trains and while waiting at the station, but last night I finished this one in bed as there were only a few "pages" (in Kindle terms: 5 %) left.
A caver is found dead at the bottom of a cave - an unfortunate, but not too unusual occurrence. But this time it was not a caving accident; the highly unpopular man was clearly killed elsewhere and his body put there for reasons unclear. The unusual hiding place also means the murderer was not alone.
With many in the village having reason to hate or fear the victim, the list of suspects grows as DCI Oldroyd, a Yorkshire man through and through, and his young partner DS Carter, newly arrived from London, start investigating.
Then, a second caver is killed in his home - shortly after telling Oldroyd that he knew who the murderer was.
The story covers not only the case, but also parts of the personal lives of the detectives. With Carter, the reader sees the area and its people through the eyes of a newcomer. With Oldroyd, we have a character firmly rooted in the landscape. There are aspects of village life less than idyllic, and there is struggle with financial worries and addiction. Thankfully, the author skips the gory details but concentrates on the people, their motivation and emotions.
The book is well written and edited and most of the places really exist. I am now looking forward to read the next one in the series. You can find out more about the author and the series here.
I am thinking of buying myself a kindle and this sounds just the sort of thing to start with - my brain is not fully in gear yet since my accident so I need fairly easy reading.
ReplyDeleteThis could be just right for you, then. It is easy reading but at the same time does engage the mind without being overwhelming. Plus you know the area and will understand the few bits in dialect!
DeleteThis does sound like an enjoyable read. I love real books but I also have a Kindle. They are amazing aren't they? I would never have room for all the books I would choose but with a Kindle that is no problem. Have a wonderful day Meike! I am thankful for your friendship!
ReplyDeleteDear Bonnie, your kind words come from a kind heart - thank YOU for your friendship!
DeleteYes, I much prefer the lightweight of a kindle in my handbag for my frequent train trips and in other situations than carrying a heavy book around. Also, I can "turn pages" on the kindle even in winter with gloves, something I find hard with books made of paper.
Good review, Meike! Glad you liked it! :)
ReplyDeleteI did, Monica, and am about half way through the second book now - a long train trip and very cold foggy Saturday afternoon gave me extra reading time :-)
DeleteSounds interesting. If you enjoy books with a Yorkshire theme, you may like Date with Mystery and Date with Malice by Julia Chapman
ReplyDeleteAlso, unless I have mentioned them before, the shortish (169 pages) novels of Gil North (1916-1988) featuring Sergeant Cluff of the Yorkshire Dales.
DeleteThree have been reissued by the British Library with covers from pre-WWII railway posters.
The two I enjoyed were *Sergeant Cluff Stands Firm* and *The Methods of Sergeant Cluff*: the eponymous hero lives with his dog in a country cottage, and is a bluff plain-spoken man who can put people at their ease, and listen to what they don't say as much as what they do say.
Thank you, L, I have read one of Julia Chapman's books and liked it; if you are interested, you can find my review here:
Deletehttps://librarianwithsecrets.blogspot.com/2018/03/read-in-2018-5-date-with-death.html
Hamel, I believe we have talked about the books reissued by the British Libraries before, maybe at someone else's blog; I have not yet read any of the Sgt. Cluff books but own another one from the series, about a missing Bronte manuscript:
https://librarianwithsecrets.blogspot.com/2016/06/read-in-2016-16-case-of-missing-bronte.html
The Cluff books sound very much like my kind of read, too.
I have just read an online interview *Julia Chapman: A Writer's Journey* from The Yorkshire Times. Her novels in the Fogas Chronicles are set in the French Pyrenees. There is an old Paris Review interview with Irwin Shaw when he was living in the Pyrenees. It sounded like the life. Shaw wrote short stories and preferred life in Paris, south France, and Klosters to America.
DeleteI have been looking at another British Library thriller, *Family Matters* (1933) by Anthony Rolls whose real name was Colwyn Edward Vulliamy (1886-1971) a Welshman born in Radnorshire, now Powys. His graphic descriptions of people and their houses make me think of novelists Elizabeth Taylor and Anthony Powell. *Surprise me with the believable* as E.M. Forster used to say to younger writers.
Any missing Bronte manuscript is quest worth embarking on. I shall look up your 2016 blog, thanks.
Penguin reissued all the Maigrets and several of Simenon's other novels.
I purchased *Maigret and the Tall Woman* because the title intrigued me, and *The Flemish House* because Flanders interests me, and I liked the cover, an old cafe that could be in Antwerp and a glass of beer on a corner table.
When the shops reopen I must look for Simenon's *A Crime in Holland*, *The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien*, *The Carter of La Providence* and *Pietr the Latvian*: the titles appeal and I like all things European.
I read Simenon's straight novels in my youth, his less than honest autobiography *When I Was Old*, and the book written after his daughter's suicide.
He said he threw away all the long words in French and confined his vocabulary to the tabloid newspapers of his day.
*The Stain in the Snow* was admired by Andre Gide for its portrait of a criminal mind, observed unflinchingly. Worthy of Dostoyevsky.
Thank you for your nice review. Don't forget "The Royal Baths Murder" (no. 4) which takes place in Harrogate
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by and commenting! The Royal Baths Murder is next on my kindle, I am already looking forward to it.
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