DEATH IN THE WEST WIND
by Deryn Lake
Allison & Busby - August 2001
ISBN 0749005017 - Hardcover
Historical Mystery - 1759, Sidmouth, Devon, England
Reviewed by Rachel
A Hyde, MyShelf.com
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This is the seventh
of the John Rawlings mysteries featuring the inventor of the fizzy drink
and the famous "Blind Beak" John Fielding. You won't find the
latter in there this time though for Rawlings and his new wife Emilia
are on their honeymoon in Sidmouth, Devon in England's wild west country.
He doesn't get to indulge much in the traditional pastimes of a honeymoon
but he does get to solve a crime. Dutch merchant Jan van Guylder from
the nearby port of Topsham seems an ordinary man faced with the usual
problems of rebellious teenage children but soon he is to have some rather
larger and more tragic problems. Juliana is found dead tied to the figurehead
of a schooner and is proved to have been raped then murdered. She seems
to have had more than her share of lovers and was expecting the child
of one of them - but where is her missing brother? And how do the mysterious
haunted house, phantom coach and the terrible Society of Angels from Exeter
fit in? Somehow John isn't going to have much time for his new bride and
this is going to make complications of its own.
This delightful series
gives most of its main characters a holiday but the old sparkle is still
as much present as ever and the whole thing fizzes merrily along like
one of the protagonist's fizzy drinks. There is always something going
on and Lake tells is all in just the right number of words, describing
life in the robust mid 18th century this time far from London with a cast
of provincial fops, fishermen and west country worthies in a well realized
setting that rings true to this reviewer - who lives there! As usual there
is much to enjoy in here with a teasing case and a cast of lively characters.
Lake is surely one of the top ten novelists writing in this ever-popular
genre in Britain; I recommend it highly and hope that there will be an
eighth novel out before I start getting withdrawal symptoms. Great stuff!
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