A Colourful Death A Cornish Mystery (2000) - Plot & Excerpts
Disappointing. I haven't read the Daisy Dalrymple stories for which this author is best known,so can’t compare. This was a perfectly enjoyable lightweight whodunnit – an artist is found murdered and it seems that everyone he knew thinks the world will be a better place without him. Enter our heroine, an elderly widow with an improbable combination of absent-mindedness and great acuity. Fair enough, if nothing special. But the book seems to have been set in the 1960s for no better reason than to allow characters to be shocked at the idea of artists living in a commune or an old people’s home having a black nurse. Our elderly widow isn’t shocked, but that’s only because she has travelled the world and seen far worse in Darkest Africa or the like. I appreciate that a setting without mobile phones is useful in detective stories, but I did feel that the author evoked some of the least sympathetic aspects for the recent past without its adding to ambience or plot. From DuMaurier to Susan Cooper, with TV series such as POLDARK and DOCMARTIN, and probably others I can't recall now, I've always enjoyedworks set in Cornwall. Maybe someday I'll get to go there. Meanwhile,I can enjoy Carola Dunn's new series of Cornish Mysteries. A COLOURFULDEATH was a great break from tax preparation class, especially since Iwas reading it in a large print edition -- it's so nice that largeprint books now come out almost simultaneously with the "regular"format. I can still read the print in an MMPB, but the large printones seem to go faster and I can stay up later reading them!Eleanor Trewynn, who has spent most of her life working for an NGO,returns to her native Cornwall after her husband's death and opens acharity shop (similar to Oxfam) on the first floor of her cottage in asmall town. Her neighbor, artist Nick; the vicar's wife, who keeps theshop organized; and her niece Megan, one of the first woman detectivesin the Cornish police force, are recurring characters. (The series isset in the late 50s or early 60s so Megan is a bit of an oddity andhas the usual struggles with troglodyte colleagues.) A COLOURFUL DEATHtakes us to another nearby town and an artists' community which isfraught with jealousy and then murder. Nick is initially accused, butonce he is cleared the suspects are numerous -- almost everyone had amotive for killing the rather loathsome victim. The plot is rathercomplicated and, some might say, far-fetched (I don't think my husbandwould like this book), but the characters and setting are perfect.Mrs. Trewynn reminds me a bit of Mrs. Malory in Hazel Holt's series --she is someone I'd love to know in person, as are the other charactersexcept for the villains! I'm looking forward to the next DaisyDalrymple too, but I'm glad to have this new series to enjoy.
What do You think about A Colourful Death A Cornish Mystery (2000)?
This series is good light reading, especially if you are home with a "bug".
—kerryting
Dragged on with police interviews. Fun characters though.
—cjsmith
