This is a well written mystery novel, the characterization is good,but something about this book didn't quite click for me. I'd like to read another by Joss, to see if I enjoy it more. From Publishers WeeklyFollow-up to Fearful Symmetry, Joss's latest Sara Selkirk mystery offers another deftly textured evocation of an idyllic British locale. As the novel opens, famous cellist Selkirk comes across a former mentor whose musical star has drowned in alcoholism. She takes the woman in, despite the reservations of her boyfriend, police detective Andrew Poole, but when another friend, James, starts having stomach problems, she turns to Bath's fashionable Sulis Clinic. The clinic seems like the perfect answer to both problems—until Sara is drawn into the murky relationships involving its governing triad: the charismatic but secretive proprietor; his unstable organic farmer son, Ivan; and Ivan's wife, Hilary, a fierce if often misguided protector of both the clinic and her husband's fragile equilibrium. When a Japanese guest at Ivan and Hilary's isolated B&B is murdered, Poole enters the case with a vigor that further strains his already tense relationship with Sara. Then, clinic patients begin to die, luring Sara herself into detection and danger. An overly complex plot and a series of contrivances weaken the story, but Joss portrays characters and relationships that are meaty enough to satisfy.
Well, I jumped in here where there were two previous books about the same characters....but, it was easy enough to get a grip on what may have gone before. I liked it enough to order the first two. Sara Selkirk a famous cellist, doesn't seem to go out of her way, or stick her nose where it doesn't belong, but at the same time, apparently, has a penchant for being conducive to helping her guy, who is a detective, solve crimes. That's an old story...but this was well written, and I enjoyed the romp. A chi chi health clinic, a crotchety old Scottish string instructor fallen on hard times, a messed up, wreck of a guy, son of the clinic owner.... two murders, and much mayhem.
What do You think about Fruitful Bodies (2005)?
Chock-full of Literary British Mystery cliches, including little mini-chapters written from the point of view of various characters (just to give a little insight in to the mis-en-scene, you know, and maybe drop a few red herrings) which just happen to include a senile alcoholic and an indeterminately mentally ill person-- so intense and gritty! Take the embarrassingly stereotyped Japanese victim/suspect duo, the familiarly tortured romantic relationship between the main character and the main detective (hello? Lynley and Helen anyone?), add in some seriously labored prose, and there you have it. I'm sad, cuz I don't have much else around to read tonight.
—Anna
