Tag Archives: 1920s crime fiction

#BookReview ‘Death down the Aisle’ by @BrightVerity #cosymystery #crime

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Death down the Aisle is the most complicated plot so far in this wonderful series by Verity Bright. More red herrings, more danger, more mystery and more humour. I had my suspicions about the murderer and was only partly correct. Verity BrightFirst of all, the aisle in question is not the scene of Lady Eleanor Swift’s own wedding to a certain detective chief inspector. Instead Ellie is due to be bridesmaid at the wedding of her friends Constance and Peregrine, but with a lawsuit and a dead body in the week prior to the service, the wedding is in doubt.
The groom, Lord Peregrine Davenport, is being sued for breach of promise by a young woman he was once engaged to. In order to settle the claim he must sell the family estate. Now this first fiancé Daisy is dead, Constance doesn’t know she exists and both families are in uproar. The first few chapters move quite slowly, setting up the inter-linking stories. But as soon as the bride’s father is attacked on the golf course, the speed picks up and it is a race to the end. A variety of people are set to benefit from Daisy’s death including the bride, groom and their relatives. Eleanor’s policeman beau, Hugh Seldon, sensitive to the delicate emotions of the female witnesses he must question and not wanting to cause undue distress, asks her to accompany him to the interviews. Of course Ellie jumps at the chance. She is drawn into more serious investigations, leading her and ever-present multi-talented butler Clifford to the dodgy end of town. This highlights a serious theme about poverty, post-war building and unemployment after the Great War.
A sub-plot involving the Women’s Institute’s planned petition demanding women be admitted to the police force comes into its own towards the end. Seldon is struggling to manage two cases at once and the determination, bravery and cleverness of the WI members is key in the final fight scene. And of course Ellie’s determination to catch the murderer without thought to her own safety makes a point about female officers.
Once I start reading one of these books, I don’t want to stop until the end. They are addictive, thanks to the wonderful combination of characters. If you’re new to them, please start at book one to fully appreciate the long-running story arcs.

Read my review of other books in the Lady Eleanor Swift series:-
A VERY ENGLISH MURDER #1LADYELEANORSWIFT
DEATH AT THE DANCE #2LADYELEANORSWIFT
A WITNESS TO MURDER #3LADYELEANORSWIFT
MURDER IN THE SNOW #4LADYELEANORSWIFT
MYSTERY BY THE SEA #5LADYELEANORSWIFT
MURDER AT THE FAIR #6LADYELEANORSWIFT
A LESSON IN MURDER #7LADYELEANORSWIFT
DEATH ON A WINTER’S DAY #8LADYELEANORSWIFT
A ROYAL MURDER #9LADYELEANORSWIFT
THE FRENCH FOR MURDER #10LADYELEANORSWIFT

If you like this, try:-
‘Murder at Catmmando Mountain’ by Anna Celeste Burke #1GEORGIESHAW
‘A Cornish Recipe for Murder’ by Fiona Leitch #5NOSEYPARKER
‘Murder at the Wedding’ by Helena Dixon #7MISSUNDERHAY

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview DEATH DOWN THE AISLE by @BrightVerity https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8qv via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Alice Feeney

#BookReview ‘Dying in the Wool’ by @FrancesBrody #cosycrime

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I’ve gone back to the beginning to read Dying in the Wool, first in the 1920s Kate Shackleton crime series by Frances Brody. What a joy it is to meet Kate for the first time, as the author intended. I read this novel quickly over a weekend, jealous of distractions that drew me away from my library book. frances brodyUnlike most first books in what become long-running series, Dying in the Wool starts quickly and gets to the point. A man disappeared seven years ago and his soon-to-be-wed daughter, convinced he ran away to start a new life, asks former VAD colleague Kate to discover his whereabouts so he can walk her down the aisle at her wedding. Widow Kate, her husband Gerald died in the Great War, has become accomplished at solving the mysteries of missing soldiers. But Joshua Braithwaite is the wealthy owner and master of a Yorkshire mill, not a man lost in the horror of battle. Staying with the Braithwaite family, and meeting Joshua’s colleagues and workforce at the mill, present Kate with new challenges and new investigative territory. This is not simply a matter of telling a wife or daughter that a man was killed in action, this is possibly about family secrets, fraud and murder. Kate soon finds herself the subject of gossip in Bridgestead village, and begins to start at moving shadows.
Brody cleverly tells us Kate’s background with Gerald in parallel to her investigations in the Braithwaite case, avoiding the ‘exposition dumps’ that can happen in the first of a series. Already familiar with some of the later books, I was pleased to meet for the first time Kate’s housekeeper Mrs Sugden and private detective Mr Sykes. Seeing Mrs Sugden fussing over Kate’s meals, and Kate encouraging Mr Sykes to get behind the wheel of her motor car for the first time, made me smile. The final quarter of the book moves quickly and, with only a few pages, left there are further twists and turns to challenge Kate’s working theory.
A well-researched and written novel that made me want to start the second book in the series straight away. The textile industry is a fertile setting for a murder mystery and Brody cleverly uses the mill and its workforce, management and working class, the weaving techniques and business finances to good effect. Kate, a wealthy young woman with her own motor car, is noticed by everyone in the mill village where workers and their bosses know everyone and there are few secrets. Or are there?
Enjoyable.

Try the #FirstPara of DYING IN THE WOOL.

Read my reviews of these other Kate Shackleton novels:-
A DEATH IN THE DALES #7KATESHACKLETON
A SNAPSHOT OF MURDER #10KATESHACKLETON
DEATH AND THE BREWERY QUEEN #12KATESHACKLETON
A MANSION FOR MURDER #13KATESHACKLETON

If you like this, try:-
‘An Unsuitable Job for a Woman’ by PD James
‘Fortune Favours the Dead’ by Stephen Spotswood
‘The Blind Man of Seville’ by Robert Wilson

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview DYING IN THE WOOL by @FrancesBrody https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7y6 via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Verity Bright