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The Examinations of Miss Dido Kent –
Book IV
Anna Dean
Allison and Busby
27 August 2012/ ISBN 9780749012724
Historical Mystery / 1805 / Devon, England
Amazon
Reviewed
by
Rachel A Hyde
It isn’t just his whiskers that make Dr Prowdlee repulsive
in Dido Kent’s eyes; more it is the fact of his pompous manners
and the fact that half of the church he presides over is already
full of his offspring. But her family wishes to see her married
and off their hands, to punish her and make her see the error of
her ways, she is packed off to Devon with the rich hypochondriac
Aunt Manners. They are guests at Charcombe Manor, Aunt Manners’
childhood home, but immediately it is plain that something is wrong.
Young heiress Letitia Verney has gone missing and could either be
lying murdered or gone to Gretna Green. Even worse is the fact that
the chief suspect is none other than the never-do-well son of Dido’s
own unrequited love Mr Lomax…
Now read on! There is something delightfully gothic about Ms Dean’s
tales of Dido Kent and her investigations. Throw in ghosts, secret
rooms, the sins of the past, and at least one body, and you have
a good mystery to read far into the night. Add in a little romance
and a good underpinning of period knowledge and you have a well
rounded novel that Jane Austen herself might have enjoyed, not to
mention Georgette Heyer. Dido remains firmly of her time as do all
the other characters, the victim of being an impoverished spinster
with a family eager to be rid of her, and a talent for unwomanly
investigations. It is not a short story, but it’s measured
pace suits the period, and at times the book reads almost as though
it could have been written in an earlier age. Highly recommended
although you would do better to start with the first book, A Moment
of Silence.
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