J. R. Ellis
# 3 in the Yorkshire Murder Mystery series
As I read about 80 % of this book still in 2020 and only the last part in 2021, I have decided to count it for both years.
Third in the series, by now the reader knows the characters well. For those who have not read the first two books, some background is provided; although I would recommend reading them in order, each of these mysteries can stand alone.
Books set in Yorkshire are always interesting for me, and this one particularly so: DCI Oldroyd and his team investigate a murder at Redmire Hall, a stately home outside Ripon. Of course, Harrogate also features frequently, as it is where Oldroyd lives. Both places are real; Redmire Hall is fictional, but based on a real stately home near Ripon. Readers familiar with the area will be delighted to find out that they - like me - guessed right at which one the author had in mind; he tells us in the acknowledgments at the end of the book.
The murder is most puzzling and a classic "locked room mystery" in the best sense - not only does it happen in a locked room, but the room itself is part of an illusion the murder victim performs to entertain a group of guests - with Oldroyd and Stephanie in the front row, and live on TV.
Soon, motives and suspects emerge left, right and center, and two more people die before two mysteries are solved: who did it, and how the locked room trick works.
Like the first two, I enjoyed this book very much. There are two more on my kindle, and the latest one is ready for pre-order - I'll be sure to get that one as well.
Every now and then, I contact the author of a book I have enjoyed. I did that last week, writing to John Ellis and telling him of my reviews of his books here on my blog. He replied to me very kindly, and even left comments on those two posts; you can find them here and here. His homepage is here.
Sounds like a good series. My library doesn't carry it, tho, so I am out of luck on this one. I am not a Kindle reader.
ReplyDeleteIt is a good series, special not only because it is set in Yorkshire but also because the mysteries are about the "how" as much as the "who"dunnit.
DeleteThat's nice, that you got replies from the author!
ReplyDeleteI think so, too - it is nice to "meet" the person behind the words.
DeleteThis whole series sounds very good and your reviews are excellent! How exciting to hear from the author both personally and on your blog.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Bonnie! I am so pleased I have discovered this series through Monica's (DawnTreader) blog.
DeleteBeing in touch with the writer of a book I have enjoyed always lends an extra dimension to it for me.
John Ellis is to be admired for responding to his readers' queries: his homepage is worth reading. Yorkshire and the North of England draw me as only certain places can.
ReplyDeleteThe novelist Evan Hunter wrote thrillers under the name Ed McBain. He was always available to his readers: *That's what it's all about,* he used to say.
Once in Edinburgh I saw Evan Hunter (he had grown a beard by then) and I always regret not having stopped him. I saw Len Deighton in a used bookstore in Charing Cross Road, London, and regret not telling him how much I admired his German novels.
Evan Hunter/Ed McBain left art because there's no frame in writing.
DeleteYouTube.
Us bloggers know what Ed McBain means - for most of us, being in touch with our readers, reading their comments and replying to them, is the life and soul of our blogs. Of course writing the occasional (or even regular) blog post is not the same as writing a book, but the reader-writer relationship is important all the same.
DeleteI have not met many authors in person, unlike my mother who used to host many readings at the school library where she worked until her retirement.
Blogs produce a kind of complicity between the reader, blogger, and blog post or current subject. This is the life and soul as you say.
DeleteSome novelists write with their readers in mind, others do not. Philip Roth (YouTube) said he only thought about the book, while he was writing.
Roth was grateful for his readers, once his novel was in the bookshops. He said real readers would rather be reading than watching Mad Men on television.
A friend told me Mad Men was *like a long Russian novel with silences* so I purchased the box set and watched the entire series over three months. A waste of time: I disliked every one of the characters, apart from an Englishman who committed suicide, and the black people who did the menial work.
You should think about doing a book vlog on YouTube: I only discovered these during lockdown.