The Piper On The Mountain (1996) - Plot & Excerpts
I saw an Ellis Peters book on Bookmooch and mooched it. I mentioned I loved her writing and the bookmoocher offered me another book too - which was this one. I assumed it is the first of the "Inspector Felse" series, as Domonic Felse is not an Inspector but a student, but looking up the sequence here on Goodreads I find it was the sixth of the series she wrote. The story is set in England and various parts of the former Czachoslovakia, with the group of four students travelling through Prague and onto the Tatra mountains. The only thing I knew about the Tatras besides their approximate location was that they grow fine wood for making musical instruments as the steep slopes mean that trees grow up straight and unbranched seeking light. A local musical instrument features in this story by chance. I am constantly amazed by the breadth and detailed knowledge of Edith Pargeter on a whole range of subjects. Her knowledge of Eastern Europe is evident here in the settings of the story, and its references to the Iron Curtain and the cold war make this a compelling story.I started reading it as a light break from the more solid descriptive book she wrote about her Shropshire landscape and have finished it without progressing far with the other book, as it is a real page-turner. It is not so much the mystery as the gradual involvement with her characters that the author conjures, which kept me reading for half the night and finishing the book within three days despite a heavy current work load. This is another book my older son, also familiar with Eastern Europe, politics and music and a lover of crime fiction for plane journey reading, will enjoy.
What do You think about The Piper On The Mountain (1996)?
