The Death of Corinne
A Country House Crime #2
by R T Raichev
Fresh from her adventures in The Hunt For Sonya Dufrette, ex-librarian and mystery writer Antonia Darcy is
sojourning in yet another country house. This time it is with her new husband, Major Payne, and the house is
Chalfont Park, the home of his favorite aunt, Lady Grylls. They are waiting for the other houseguests, one of
which is the legendary singer Corinne Coreille, Lady Grylls’ god-daughter and the daughter of her best friend.
Corinne has been receiving death threats from a crazy American woman whose son committed suicide while listening
to one of her records. One of the other guests is a private detective, but maybe Antonia will get another chance
to solve the crime herself - but only if it is actually committed.
The country house murder mystery is possibly the quintessential classic whodunit, and so many people have
written them that another one seems superfluous - or does it? Against all odds, Raichev has actually managed to
bring something fresh and new to the tired old formula, and produce a story that embodies elements from both the
classic style and other contemporary crime fiction. There is the impoverished old aristocrat in her crumbling
old house, rejected by the National Trust, and a relic of a former age. The book is filled with motifs from
times past - the age of the classic country house murder - at odds with modern times. Antonia is the outsider,
feeling like a court jester one minute and a sleuth the next, but always the voice of reason with her heart and
mind in the outside world. To its detriment the puzzle is not hard to guess, but this is not a long novel and
there is plenty of bizarre color to at least partly make up for this fault. A series to watch out for. |
The Book |
Constable Robinson |
August 2007 |
Hardback |
9781845295257 |
Crime - Contemporary [Shropshire, England] |
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The Reviewer |
Rachel A Hyde |
Reviewed 2007 |
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