Lord Francis Powerscourt Investigation, No 11
David Dickinson
Constable (Constable and
Robinson)
19 January 2012 / ISBN: 9781780330297
Historical Mystery / 1911 England, various locations
Amazon
US
- UK
Reviewed
by Rachel A Hyde
Why would anybody
want to murder an old man living in an almshouse just outside London?
But then, what would the motive be for killing a school bursar up
in Norfolk or a banqueting former Lord Mayor of London? It is up
to Lord Francis Powerscourt to discover the connection and bring
the perpetrator to justice, but this is going to be a long and involved
business
There is plenty in this book and a rich variety of settings, rather
like the courses in the banquet attended, fatally, by Sir Rufus
Walcott. Lord Powerscourt has to work with three very different
inspectors in three locations and interview many suspects, all of
which combine to make for a good red-herring-strewn murder mystery
in the classic style.
But this is
not quite the case, as we actually learn whodunit - if not their
name and full identity - fairly early on in the book. This rather
spoils the story, at least for me and all those who prefer their
mysteries to be mysterious rather than watching the detective go
through his paces, interesting as that is. On a more positive note,
this author is adept at evoking times and places, and this is a
good picture of England in 1911. It is a time when the country was
stepping out of the Edwardian era and into a new one, although the
past still has the power to haunt and cause trouble. Mr Dickinson
has produced a good book, but in my opinion if he had made it more
of a mystery it would have been even better.
Other
reviews in this series
Death &
The Jubilee,
No 2
Death of an Old Master, No 3
Death
on the Nevskii Prospekt, No 6
Death
on the Holy Mountain, No 7
Death of a Pilgrim, No 8
Death
of a Wine Merchant,
No
Death
of a Chancellor, No
Death
Called To The Bar, No
Death in a Scarlet Coat, No 10 [review
1] [review
2]
Death
at the Jesus Hospital, No 11
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