3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An absorbing debut mystery, August 26, 2000
This review is from: Cruel As The Grave (A Silver Dagger Mystery) (Hardcover)
Cruel As The Grave by Dean James
Maggie McLendon is surprised when a letter from her father's Aunt Helen bearing bad news of the health of her Grandfather Henry McLendon, gains little reaction from her father Gerard. Although, Maggie had met her Aunt Helen on two occasions, she had learned as a child that the rest of the family was a taboo subject. However, she reasoned, if her Grandfather was seriously ill, this could be her only chance to meet him and on this point she takes a firm stance.
Arriving with her father at the McLendon family home, Maggie is stunned and disconcerted at how wealthy the family must be, a fact concealed by her father. Welcomed eagerly by her Aunt Helen and with varying degrees of interest, disinterest and hostility by the other members of the family, Maggie starts to get to know her new family.
At her first meal with the family, Maggie becomes quickly aware of the tensions and hostility harboured by the various members. When murder strikes within a short time of their arrival, and with her father under suspicion, Maggie starts to investigate. She uncovers in this beautiful Southern home, secrets, bitterness, and maybe someone hides a need for revenge.
Dean has woven an absorbing debut mystery. The characterisation was brilliant, and as Maggie discovers more and more about the family members I kept changing my mind as to the murderers identity. I did think at one point that I worked it out, but as I read on I began to have doubts, so I had to start again.
Highly recommended. Lizzie Hayes
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A British country house mystery set in the American South ==, September 14, 2000
This review is from: Cruel As The Grave (A Silver Dagger Mystery) (Hardcover)
Suppose that Dame Agatha Christie had allowed her wonderful creation,
Miss Jane Marple, to have married when that lady was young, and the
happy couple had a child. (Certainly Miss Marple would NEVER have had
a child without having first been married!) Had this happened, it
would not then be too much of a stretch to also imagine that Miss
Magnolia Amelia McLendon could be the grand-daughter or perhaps great
grand-daughter of said Miss Marple. Intelligent, a keen observer of
both her surroundings and the people who inhabit those surroundings,
Maggie is yet a modern young miss, working on her pre-Ph.d exams,
when her life is turned upside down. A letter from the only aunt
she's ever known, her father's Aunt Helena--pleads with them to
return to the family home in Jackson, Mississippi, for two reasons.
One is the illness of the family patriarch, Maggie's grandfather, who
is, after all 80 years old, but the bigger news is that the 27
year-long breach in the family is ready to be mended.
For a variety
of reasons, all of this family history is news to Maggie, and she
urges her father, Gerard, to accept the invitation, and to include
both of them in the visit. He grudgingly accepts, inadvertently
setting off modern-day reactions to events of long ago, including a
previously unsuspected murder.
From the very first person she
meets--Adrian Worthington--driver/butler/whatever, but all too
intriguing, through aunts, uncle, cousins--the ambiance of the South
is never far from the surface, although the family secrets are
anything but that. Using the legacy of Miss Marple, (for whom both the
author and his characters freely profess a fondness) Maggie patiently
sorts through all the events, both current and past, to find the
solution.
It is rare indeed, for an author to begin with
award-winning non-fiction, proceed to highly-praised short fiction,
then graduate to a full-length mystery story, but what a pleasure this
journey by Dean James provides for us all. If you, too, share a
fondness for the works of Dame Agatha, or any of the other past
classical mistresses of mystery, you should also enjoy this
wonderfully civil, witty and well-written recreation of the classical
British country house mystery novel. It's just been transported to
the American South, that's all!
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4.0 out of 5 stars
A Taste of Deadly Southern Hospitality, July 19, 2000
Cruel as the Grave, is a healing, homecoming, which turns into a catalytic invitation to murder.
Dean James' first novel is a rich blend of Old World elegance gingerly mixed with the more casual aspects of the modern day world. It is a veritable, literate feast of terminal pride, prejudice and old family foibles.
Maggie McLendon, whose father becomes the major suspect in a passion-filled murder, must sift through the genealogical ingredients of secrets, lies and hatred that are lavishly iced with thick smooth, geniality. As with most families, the dining room table is an area for more than just sating one's appetite.
If you like the flavor of the slow paced South, savory characterization, a hint of spice, essence of Gothic, laced with twists and turns and a cozy Agatha Christiean drawing room conclusion, then settle in with a hefty helping of fetid family values on a Silver Dagger platter.
It is my understanding that the use of the wrong Hepburn name in "The Lion in Winter" was not from the mind or hand of the author.
I look forward to reading more of Dean James' work and I give this book an extra cheer for the old tortoise lawyer and the name that was given him!
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