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Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | MYSTERY BUR | Searching... Unknown |
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Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Charles Wycliffe's 20th case (after Wycliffe and the Dunes Mystery) begins as he is on holiday with his wife in Cornwall, where he becomes interested in the 500-year-old estate of Kellycoryk and its family, the Kemps. The manor at Kellycoryk has fallen into ruin and is barely habitable. To save it, Roger Kemp, to whom heritage matters above all else, must either sell outright or lease it to the company owned by his wealthy second wife Bridget, who plans to make it a tourist resort. Roger, with "a knack for turning misfortune into... calamity," becomes the prime suspect when Bridget goes missing and the evidence points to murder. Wycliffe's natural curiosity becomes official when he takes over the investigation and turns his attention to the boating death of Roger's first wife, all while sorting out the Kemp family's festering relationships. Intuition, experience and factual inconsistencies lead him toward the solution of both deaths, but not before an apparently guilt-induced suicide occurs. This skilled blend of mood, character and plot will likely be read in one sitting. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Five years after a boating accident relieved Roger Kemp of his first wife Julia, his second, Bridget, is shot on her way home from an evening at Scrabble. The obvious suspect is Roger, who--everybody from his sister/housekeeper Agnes to his rebellious daughter Isobel agrees--married Bridget just for her money, and who wasn't keen on her plans to preserve his beloved family home, Kellycoryk, by turning it into a retreat for wealthy neurotics. So Chief Superintendent Charles Wycliffe, stopping coincidentally nearby, concentrates his inquiries on Julia's death--only to find Bridget's murder inconveniently failing to fit his theories about Julia. Burley's 26th (Wycliffe and the Dunes Mystery, 1994, etc.) is stronger on suspects and atmosphere than on plot, with the ceremonious trappings of the Cornish procedural more dutiful than compelling.
Booklist Review
Two police procedurals, one an exemplar of the British genre and the other patterned after Simenon's Maigret mysteries, prove once again how pleasurable the familiar conventions can be in the hands of good writers. Chief Superintendent Wycliffe, now in his fifteenth appearance, has lost none of his appeal. Wycliffe, on vacation to recover from a bout of bronchitis, and his wife rent a charming cottage on a remote Cornish bay, near the estate of Kellycork, which the Kemp family has owned for 500 years. After reading a local history on the family and picking up the local gossip about Roger Kemp, the current owner, Wycliffe is hooked when the second Mrs. Kemp disappears and eventually turns up murdered: end of vacation. This latest installment in an excellent series features Burley's usual trademarks: solid plotting, a well-described and colorful setting, and intriguing characters. Dean Fuller's Chief Inspector Alex Grismolet evokes the Gallic spirit with great verve, suggesting a combination of Simenon's style spiced with a British sense of humor. This most entertaining mystery is put in motion with the death of Paris' most hated theater critic, Virgile de la Pagerie. On vacation in the country at the time of the murder, Alex is recalled to Paris to investigate, his interest piqued by the fact that de la Pagerie's date on the night of his death was Alex's ward, Philippa. Her involvement proves innocent, but that of her fellow ballet dancer Stephanie, de la Pagerie's mistress, may not be. Assisted by the dedicated Inspector Alphonsas Varnas, Alex penetrates an amazingly elaborate theatrical charade to discover the truth. Well plotted with wonderful characters, Fuller's latest is a superior sequel to the first Grismolet mystery, A Death in Paris (1992). --Stuart Miller
