Like, I suppose many people, I have watched the ‘Midsomer Murders’ on television. However, I cannot call myself a devotee, as I don’t actually set out to watch them I just happen to have caught a few screenings. In fact the stories are good, it is the characters that disappoint - I never like any of them - but I just assumed that was the television adaptation. So, I decided to try the latest book. I now realise how close to the books the TV series must be, for I don’t like any of the characters in the book either, but it is an intriguing story.
When Carey Lawson dies she leaves her beautiful home in Forbes Abbot to her nephew Mallory Lawson. He and his wife Kate are thrilled, Mallory because he can now retire from the teaching job that he has grown to hate, and Kate because it gives her the opportunity to realise her dream of starting her own publishing business. So they immediately set about selling their London home, looking forward to a more peaceful existence in the country. Not keen to move to the country is the Lawsons daughter Polly, who is a greedy, spoilt and a totally obnoxious creature - with as far as I could see, not a single redeeming feature.
There is a host of characters in the charming village of Forbes Abbot. Benny Frayle, who had been Carey Lawson’s companion, appeared to me to be rather simple, but maybe innocent is a better description. The beautiful Ashley and his harridan wife Judith, who is convinced that every woman from age 5 to 90 is after her Ashley. Gilda who, asking her husband Andrew ‘How do I look’ receives the reply ‘A credit to your mortician, my love’. enough said. Andrew Latham is a partner in the firm of Fallon & Brinkley, but it is his wife Gilda who holds the purse strings, and she holds them tight! And Dennis Brinkley who has a rather weird hobby, collecting ‘killing machines’ not quite like stamps or a bit of DIY. Encouraged by her friend Doris, Benny visits the Church of the Near at Hand, and here we meet the medium Ava Garret and her daughter Karen.
Into this heady mix comes murder, and in true Midsommer fashion the body count soon begins to rise. Investigating is DCI Barnaby and Sgt Troy.
Despite the rather charmless characters, the mystery is intriguing, there are
some interesting twists that kept me guessing to the end. So in all a good read
. ------
Lizzie Hayes
Earlier books in the series are The Killing on Badgers Drift, Envy Of The
Stranger, Death of a Hollow Man, Murder At Maddingly Grange, Death In Disguise,
Written in Blood, Faithful Unto Death, A Place Of Safety.