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The Curious Incident At Claridge’s
An Antonia Darcy and Major Payne Mystery - Book V

by R T Raichev

     

At a boring regimental dinner in Claridge’s, Major Payne does find one thing to interest him—a confrontation between a young and beautiful woman and an elderly man involving a box and a capsule.  Does she intend to poison him, and what are they to each other?  A spot of Googling provides some answers, and their detecting will lead Antonia and her husband to an exclusive retreat for elderly gentlemen called Mayholme Manor.  Once there, they will find more than one sinister person and discover some very old sins with some remarkably long shadows.

Here is R T Raichev’s fifth classic era country house mystery modernized for today’s more cynical reader.  As with the other four, it comes complete with the usual cast of grotesques, so many of them that I couldn’t help thinking there was room for more than two "normal" people (i.e. the sleuths).  There is a good plot, perhaps the strongest yet, which keeps the pages turning, and a more modern feel than the other books managed, complete with some amusing satirical and very topical remarks.  If you like some of the bizarre and fantastic comedy shows on TV melded neatly with a classic style plot, then this ought to appeal.

The Book

Constable (Constable and Robinson)
March 2010
Hardback
1849011228 / 9781849011228
Mystery / Contemporary / London, England
More at Amazon.com US || UK
Excerpt
NOTE: US edition is different (Soho Constable)

The Reviewer

Rachel A Hyde
Reviewed 2010
NOTE:
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