Larkspur: A Mystery [Hardcover]

Sheila Simonson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This lively and appealing first mystery pits bookstore owner Lark Daily (the Monte, Calif., store is called Larkspur Books) and her policeman lover Jay Dodge against the murderer of elderly Dai Llewellyn, a rich, homosexual and renowned American poet. Because she's the daughter of a well-known poetess, Lark and Jay are invited for a Fourth of July weekend to Dai's luxurious fishing lodge. The house party is rudely disrupted when Dai is poisoned with larkspur. The guests are all suspects, of course, but immediate suspicion falls on Miguel, Dai's houseboy and lover, who disappears. While Jay, who is acting head of the local CID, investigates, Lark does a little probing of her own, particularly when Dai's will names as his heir the son of one of the guests, a former dancer; the young man is now revealed as Dai's offspring. The arrival of Lark's mother, designated Dai's literary executor, precipitates more violence. Simonson, previously the author of Regency romances ( Love and Folly ), makes a promising debut in the mystery field, deftly juggling a cozy modern suspense story with an up-to-date romance.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 234 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (May 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312043384
• ISBN-13: 978-0312043384
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #686,981 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Writer with an eye for detail, February 28, 2003

By 

frumiousb "frumiousb" (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Larkspur: A Mystery (Hardcover)

I picked this book up expecting a throwaway cozy, and was pleasantly suprised by the richness of detail Simonson employed. She uses detail in a way that many writers in the genre are too lazy or unable to carry off-- just the little touches, like the description of the basil in Angharad's garden, really made the book stand out.

Unfortunately, the book had two major strikes against it:

1. Too high of a body count-- it started to feel gratuitous at a certain moment.

2. The plot falls apart almost completely at the end-- I had figured out who the killer had to be, but had no idea of the motivation. After reading the ending, I *still* had no idea about the motivation. The conclusion of the book was so unclear that I was actually annoyed that I had stayed up so late to finish it.

Lark, the owner of a bookshop in Northern California is invited, together with her policeman boyfriend, to a party at the house of noted poet Dai Llewellyn. When he unexpectedly dies and it becomes clear that it was not his heart, Lark is pulled into a mystery from the past that would eventually threaten the people she loves.

Simonson deserves another chance as a writer for the finer qualities of the book, but I hope that there is an improvement in her plotting (or at least her ending) skills between this book and the next.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Murder, romance and family connections, September 29, 2000

By 

Juliana L. Cox - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Larkspur: A Mystery (Hardcover)

A competently written formula mystery, this author showes an excelent grasp of skills needed to interweave complex family and emotional ties into the story. Lark is a book store owner who is invited to a wealthy old man's mountain estate because of her mother's status as a poet. Her boyfriend comes too. Natually, there are some murders, which Lark sort of/somehow gets involved in solving. This story surprised me with the twists of the plot, always logical but unexpected. The "lark" series reminds me of Charlotte McCleod's Max and Sarah Bittersjohn stories but with a more brooding flavor.