|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
After the death of her husband, activist and world traveler Nell Trewynn moved to beautiful Port Mabyn in Cornwall and set up a resale shop to benefit one of the many charities she has championed over the years. While on a collecting trip around the countryside for donations she is gifted, anonymously, with a real windfall, a surprise that brings tragedy in its wake. When thieves attempt to steal the treasure before it can be valued and auctioned off, someone dies and the police are called in. On the surface this is a beautifully woven, somewhat slow-moving classic novel of suspense similar in style to Mary Stewart's late 1960s work, of a woman in an old-fashioned village who stumbles into mystery and the interesting folks who help her along the way to the solution. But this well-plotted and atmospheric mystery has a finely calibrated edge to it, almost an attitude of defiance just below the surface, that belies the initial impression of just a nice little cosy. For Nell is a woman of substance and strengths, who knows many of her limitations and finds ways to work within and around them. And she does not actually solve the crime - that is left to the professionals - but her information and perception do help the detectives along the way, resulting in a quite satisfactory and rather more realistic solution than those which are, alas, too frequently found in cosy mysteries. Carola Dunn's characters, especially Nell, are superb creations, for she carefully layers their personalities and attitudes, behaviors and inclinations, until these seem like people you've known for a very long time and would gladly have as friends. In addition to Nell herself, we have her niece Detective Sergeant Megan Pencarrow, one of the few women in the North Cornwall Constabulary; Inspector Scumble, opinionated, irascible and short-tempered but not too old or proud to learn something from a woman if it will help solve his mystery; an artist, an extremely organized vicar's wife and her absent-minded husband, several rather lost young folks, and a lovely little dog named Teazle. In the hands of a less gifted writer these might have been caricatures but each has a distinct personality, becoming more interesting as the story progresses. My only quibble with this fine first of series was that the plotting, while very good - carefully laid and fairly played - was extremely easy for me to figure out well in advance of the characters. But perhaps that was intended, as it made for a very comfortable read, almost a welcome back to a form and style that I loved in my youth and for which I still have a soft spot. Whatever Dunn's intentions, I enjoyed myself very much in her beautiful seaside village, and eagerly await my next visit to Port Mabyn.
Reviewed by Abbey Hamilton, September 2009
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
|
