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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Solid, pleasant mystery, December 7, 2005
This review is from: Common or Garden Crime (Rue Morgue Vintage Mystery) (Paperback)
This book, while 60+ years old, is still readable and good company. While not exciting or terribly suspenseful, it finds occupies a middle ground we don't see much anymore-- intelligence without political or social agendas, accuracy without tedious (and often rather graphic) detail, and a good story, well written and plotted.
In comparison to other mysteries of the same period, this veers more towards Agatha Christie than Dorothy Sayers, but is by no means as formulaic as Christie's works.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
World War II Ireland, July 10, 2009
This review is from: Common or Garden Crime (Rue Morgue Vintage Mystery) (Paperback)
This is a true cozy with a village murder, a curious female amateur sleuth (Lucy Bex), and clues found among the gossiping and gardens of the villagers. Set in 1943 in the small town of Clonmeen on the outskirts of Dublin, it reveals strong village social distinctions and the ways in which gardening was a necessary way of life during the "Emergency" (World War II). Even with a local murder to solve, Lucy feels the pressure. "It was ridiculous to start sidelines like amateur detection when you had a garden on your hands," she thinks.
The war in Europe seems distant in neutral Ireland where solders were forbidden to wear British uniforms. The villagers seem more interested in maintaining their traditions like the annual flower show, and on exchanging tips on ways to get the most out of their gardens. Politics and religious differences are kept at a minimum. To get along, "everybody begins by voicing what he assumes are the other parties' opinions, without giving away his own." Yet the "Emergency" has resulted in rationing for clothes, food, and available transportation. Lucy's nephew Ivor, from her Protestant family which declares itself to be "very Anglo," has volunteered to serve in the British army. There also is the reality that men not in military service were leaving Ireland for the high wages of war work in England.
This is a vintage book by Sheila Pim, who is considered to be one of the first novelists in Ireland to attain any degree of fame as a mystery writer. It is her first detective novel, appearing in print in 1945.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pleasant irish cozy murder mystery, February 19, 2009
This review is from: Common or Garden Crime (Rue Morgue Vintage Mystery) (Paperback)
PLOT: During World War II a small village outside Dublin is mostly worried about the upcoming flower show, although shortages caused by the war are also a bother. Gardening is an intense interest to more than one inhabitant, including Lucy Bex, who lives with her brother while his son is away in service with England. When a newly arrived neighbor dies from monkshood root poisoning it first appears a terrible accident, but Lucy -- and the Guard -- soon begin to believe it was murder. Suspects include the widower, the victim's son, the cook, the gardener, and a few of the neighbors,
REVIEW: an easy-to-read whodunit that moves along at a leisurely pace, and has some nice insights in to what living in Ireland in the war years was like. It's solution is not a "what the..?" one, but it's still a satisfying time getting to the end.
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