‘A Fete Worse than Death’
by Dolores Gordon-Smith
Published by Carroll & Graf NY and Constable UK
ISBN 978-0-78671-985-3

Dolores Gordon-Smith is a new author in detective fiction with this first adventure starring Jack Haldane, a crime writer in Sussex in 1922.  The story has its roots in the recent conflict - the Great War - in which Jack was a participant as a Royal Flying Corps pilot, so he is well qualified to attempt to puzzle out the causes of two deaths.  The first body is found in a tent at the local fete and the second is discovered soon after at the village pub.  Quintessentially British, you might say, and this impression is increased when it transpires that Jack is staying with cousins in the equivalent of the village manor. 

All the attributes of a country house mystery are enhanced by the book’s idyllic-appearing cover with Jack in his striped blazer against a sunny 1920s fete background.  I am not sure that this cheery cover doesn’t do the book a  disservice by making it seem lightweight when in fact the mystery is deep and dark with its origins in a battle in the network of tunnels under part of the Somme in 1916.   The title also seems insouciant and trifling, unlike the events depicted.  Perhaps the contrast between the frenetic 1920s and the appalling experiences of WW1 are meant to be brought to mind.  Lots of 1920s cliches appear and some are turned on their heads as love, money, blackmail and revenge come to figure largely in the story. This is a good read - characters are varied, developments are fast and the denouement is superb.  Jack is a well developed personality whose rationalisations are fascinating to follow as evidence piles up to point in directions he is reluctant to go.   
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Jennifer S. Palmer
This is the first mystery about Jack Haldane and the author is already at work on Mad about the Boy.