Customer Reviews

Element of Doubt a (Inspector Thanet)

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This is the seventh in a series of mysteries set in Kent, England, and featuring the detective work of Inspector Luke Thanet. In this story, when Inspector Thanet is called to the scene of the death of a woman who fell from a balcony, he quickly realizes that this was no accident. Quite a few people connected with the case seem to have something to hide, and it is up to Thanet to get to the bottom of it all.

This is the second Dorothy Simpson book I have read, and I am hooked. In this book, Dorothy Simpson succeeds in weaving a fiendishly complicated plot, leaving you completely baffled as to who could have done it. I really enjoyed this very-British murder mystery, and highly recommend it to you.

This is an excellent whodunnit. It's typically British in that it's a murder at a big house with lots of suspects, each of whom probably has a good motive. The characters are complex adults with complex problems. But what I liked most about it was the descriptive detail given: gardens, food, architecture, interior design. The author is in no rush to get us to the Big Reveal. We linger lovingly on the good detail. I highly recommend this one to all lovers of classic British murder mysteries.

This is the seventh adventure of British Detective Inspector Thanet, a methodical, hardworking copper in Kent, England. The series is low key with very little violence, swearing, action or sex. Thanet and his partner Sgt. Lineham tackle one crime at a time, interviewing suspects and then pool their knowledge to solve the crime. Both are married and there's usually a "family crisis" in the background for one or both of them, which is juggled while the two go about sleuthing. Simpson's books are classic British "cozys", with excellent character development and usually a fairly intriguing mystery.

In Element of Doubt, our heroes are tasked with solving the mysterious death of Nerine Tarrant, who took a fatal swan dive off of a second story balcony. Nerine was beautiful, married to a well to do surgeon, the mother of an 18 year old son, and to put it bluntly - was the town tramp - conducting one adulterous affair after another. As Thanet and Lineham investigate, they find no shortage of suspects. The secondary cast here is a set of quirky, well developed and very real people. The familial crisis in the background revolves around Thanet's wife, who is now a probation office, she and Luke butting heads over the murdered woman's son. Luke views the young man as a suspect; Mrs. Thanet sees him as a troubled youth who deserves some slack.

The story-line is at its best as it follows the investigation, but drifts - and slows -perceptibly when delving into the Thanets' marital "difficulties". The other minus in this book is the reader - on several occasions - has to wait for Thanet to catch up, particularly with the identity of two of the victim's paramours, which is never good news in a mystery and makes the conclusion anti-climactic. An above average British mystery series, but Element of Doubt is one of the weaker entries.