A pleasant but unremarkable murder mystery set in Cornwall in the 1960s. Eleanor Trewyn is a widow in her sixties who helps to run the LonStar charity shop, and has a habit of getting involved with murders. In this one, her young friend Nick Gresham, an artist, is accused of murdering another artist, Geoffrey Monmouth, who in a fit of spite had slashed Nick's paintings. On the scene is Eleanor's niece, Ds Megan Pencarrow, and her boss, Inspector Scumble. Unsurprisingly, Inspector Scumble isn't very bright (he disapproves of women detectives, so naturaly we know he can't be very intelligent) and Eleanor, Megan, and Nick do most of the detective work.It wasn't too difficult to guess who the murderer was, and altogether I found this quite predictable. My prejudice in favour of police detectives makes me wish that Scumble was more of a live wire (an inspector who didn't approve of women detectives but was nevertheless good at his job would be a novel twist). But it was an enjoyable enough read. Eleanor Trewynn, widowed, retired, and seeking a quiet life spends a few uncomfortable days solving the mystery of the murdered artist. Her good friend, Nick Gresham, and she walked into a gallery and discovered the dead man, just as his girlfriend arrives and accuses Nick of the murder. Eleanor stays one step (sometimes more than one step) ahead of the police, interviewing suspects, learning their secrets and solving the case.This was a very pleasant book to read on a cold, rainy day. It goes along quite nicely and doesn't require a lot of concentration.
What do You think about A Colourful Death (2010)?
--Eleanor Trewynn’s friend is accused of murdering an artist who lives in a commune.
—AmbsJ14
Loved it, better than the first in the series.
—josephyak
