The Cold Light of Mourning: A Mystery [Hardcover]

Elizabeth J. Duncan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 28, 2009

Elizabeth J. Duncan spins a charming tale of murder and intrigue in this winning first novel.

The picturesque North Wales market town of Llanelen is shocked when Meg Wynne Thompson, a self-made beauty who has turned out to be something of an unpopular bride, goes missing on her wedding day…and turns up dead. The last person believed to have seen her is manicurist Penny Brannigan, an expatriate Canadian who has lived in North Wales for almost twenty-five years. When Penny notices that something is not quite right at the funeral of her dearest friend, she becomes emotionally invested in the case, and sets out to investigate.

It seems that several people, including the bride’s drunken, abusive father, had reasons to wish Meg dead, but when the trail leads to her groom’s home, an explosive secret will shake the small town.

With its bucolic Welsh setting and vivid, colorful characters, this mystery is sure to delight the most discerning of traditional-mystery fans.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. On her wedding day, Meg Wynne Thompson disappears between having a manicure and getting her hair done. The quiet Welsh town of Llanelen is stunned by a full police investigation, the arrest of Meg's fiancé, and the death of his father. But manicurist Penny Brannigan, an expatriate Canadian, realizes the woman who came to her salon was an imposter and seeks to find the truth. Duncan, the first Canadian winner of the Minotaur/Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Novel competition, lulls readers with her soothing prose and depiction of small-town life in Wales and then startles them with a shocker of a denouement. Readers who enjoy Louise Penny, another Canadian mystery author of note, and Charlaine Harris's Aurora Teagarden mysteries will love this one. [Library marketing.]
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From Booklist

This debut mystery is a winner of the Minotaur Books/Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Competition. Manicurist and owner of the Happy Hands Nail Care shop, Penny Brannigan is a transplanted Canadian who has been living in Llanelen in northern Wales since she came to the country as a backpacker years ago. While still dealing with the recent death of a good friend, Penny is hired to do the nails of the bridal party for the wedding of local Emyr Gruffydd to Londoner Meg Wynne Thompson. Meg Wynne disappears on her wedding day, apparently after having her nails done. Penny becomes involved when she realizes that the woman whose nails she did that day was not Meg Wynne. Penny and a new friend, Victoria, assist Detective Chief Inspector Davies with his investigation, sometimes clumsily, but they ultimately solve the mystery. Well-developed characters and a nicely delineated Wales setting are what make this stylish cozy work. A well-deserved award winner. --Sue O'Brien

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books (April 28, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312558538
• ISBN-13: 978-0312558536
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #994,764 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Elizabeth J Duncan's very first attempt at fiction writing, The Cold Light of Mourning, won the 2008 Malice Domestic/St. Martin's award and was published in 2009. It was nominated for an Agatha Award (USA) and Arthur Ellis Award (Canada).
Her second novel, A Brush with Death, was published in 2010.
Elizabeth lives in Toronto with her dog Dolly. Her busy life includes teaching in the public relations programs at Humber College and spending several weeks each year in North Wales.
She attends three or four major mystery conventions each year (Malice Domestic, Bouchercon, Bloody Words and Love is Murder) and is looking forward to meeting you there.
She is not a fan of Facebook, but loves Twitter and would be delighted to have you as a follower. @ElizabethDuncan.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars (3.5 stars) "What would a wedding be without a hitch or two?", April 28, 2009

By 

Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Cold Light of Mourning: A Mystery (Hardcover)

Living in a small town in North Wales, Canadian ex-pat Penny Brannigan enjoys an uneventful, but satisfying life, busy with her nail salon and an active interest in painting. Having recently lost her best friend, Penny is still grieving. Gathering the necessary tools from her nail salon, it is not surprising when Penny arrives at the funeral parlor to give her friend, Emma, one last manicure. Penny's nail salon is a hub of social gossip, especially with regular visits from the town busybody. But Penny becomes a more critical player in the town's drama when a bride goes missing before her wedding. A Londoner, Meg Wynne Thompson has planned to wed a wealthy local landowner's son, Emyr Gryffudd, in a formal afternoon ceremony. Penny is the last person to see the bride on the Saturday morning of the wedding; after her manicure, the bride-to-be leaves the shop and is not seen again.

Everyone gathered at the church, the wedding party is disbanded, guests and participants at a loss for an explanation, although foul play is certainly considered. Detective Chief Inspector Gareth Davies is called in to head the investigation. Interviewing Penny as the last person to see Meg Wynne the morning of the wedding, Davies is unexpectedly charmed. Warming to his attentions, Penny becomes more intrigued with the fate of the disappeared bride and more interested than she will admit in the detective. The tale unfolds in a blend of romance and mystery, Penny collaborating with her latest acquaintance, harpist Victoria Hopkirk. The two middle-aged women engage in some amateur sleuthing that actually bears fruit, but in their enthusiasm, the ladies are careless of their own safety. Of course, the amateurs also attract the notice of the culprit. When Meg Wynne's body is discovered- thanks to Penny's intuition- DCI Davies has good reason to worry about her safety,

A light tale that focuses as much on personalities and idiosyncrasies as the crime, the author captures the intimacies of small town life in the aftershock of unexpected events. There is no shortage of suspects to choose from, or eccentric characters, from the bride's alcoholic father to the stunned groom, not to mention the voluble Mrs. Lloyd, a regular visitor at Happy Hands Nail Care. Duncan has created a charming mix of incipient middle-aged romance and mystery, tea and sympathy, spiced with a touch of "Murder She Wrote". Luan Gaines/2009.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars interesting Welsh village police procedural, May 2, 2009

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Cold Light of Mourning: A Mystery (Hardcover)

Two and a half decades ago, manicurist Penny Brannigan left Canada to relocate in Llanelen, Wales where she opened a reasonable successful manicure shop. However, the usually calm Penny is a bit disturbed to learn Meg Wynne Thompson vanished just before she was to say I do to the squire's son. Her disappearance would mean nothing to Penny except the last known place she was seen was her manicure shop.

Though it may be a case of a runaway bride filled with trepidation, Detective Chief Inspector Gareth Davies does not rule out foul play and considers the wedding guests as potential suspects. Penny informs Gareth about the strange client whom she now believes was not Meg but someone pretending to be the missing woman. As the police arrest the fiancé whose father suddenly dies Meg and her buddy Victoria Hopkird begin asking questions that bring them to the attention of someone who prefers the case to stay the way the police see it; especially since Davies pays heed to Penny's tips.

THE COLD LIGHT OF MOURNING is an interesting Welsh village police procedural with an amateur sleuth subplot. In some ways the star of the story line is Llanelen as Elizbath J. Duncan provides a vivid look at a seemingly remote sleepy rustic hamlet; this gives the mystery a cozy feel until the dramatic ending. Well written and the winner of the Minotaur/Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Novel award, fans of Welsh village mysteries will enjoy this tale and want more whodunits starring the hamlet, the two amateurs and the DCI.

Harriet Klausner

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, June 10, 2010

By 

B. Zimmer (Idaho, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Cold Light of Mourning: A Mystery (Hardcover)

I thought this book would be interesting because of its north Wales setting. At first it wasn't too bad, but Duncan's writing--and especially the plot--deteriorated quickly. She uses lots of adjectives in place of good writing; her characters are stock and unimaginative; and she has the romance writers' propensity to add an amateurish plastic sheen and polish to characters and setting: expensive brand names; characters slim and healthy; wealthy protagonists; silver this and platinum that. The book is trite, and you would have to be really bored to read it.