Customer Reviews

Mortal Remains (Ulverscroft Large Print Series)

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Margaret Yorke did not sustain her series of novels about Dr Patrick Grant,an Oxford University Art History lecturer ,and jettisoned the series after 5 books ,of which this is the penultimate work .They are more in the way of traditional whodunnits ,with an academic and "distinguished amateur detective" feel to them than the usual psychological studies that constitute the bulk of her output .I guess she lost interest in the puzzle aspect of the genre and rightly so if this is any guide because it is too rambling and diffuse ,not to mention slackly constructed to suatain interest as a pure mystery.

Grant is holidaying in Greece anfd the time is the 1970's --thre are references to the then current military despotism ,the rule of the "Colonels ".On his first day he discovers a body floating in the ocean and to his suprise finds he knows the deceased -another academic ,felix Lomax.The police suspect suicide but Grant is unpersuaded .He does not allow the mystery to disturb his vaction however and continues to gid into the case while visiting many of the Greek tourist higspots-Delphi,Crete and the tombs of the Minotaur-in company with a group from whom the suspects are drawn .One is a retired American businessman and World War 2 veteran George ,and his wife Elsie ,a transplanted Brit and sundry other tourists .There is a rather feeble subplot about antiquitries smuggling

The best parts of the boook are its loving descriptions of Greece ,especially the ancient historical sights and this cannot hepl but give the book a travelogue feel at times ,with the mystery element coming a distant second to a description of senery and atmosphere .Fine if that is what you want but if you seek a craftsmanlike whodunnit with lots of suspects then forget it

Grant is a bit pallid -distant and intellectual (he is reading Trollope on vacation) and an observer rather than fully engaged partipant in events

Very minor but rated fairly high due to its descriptive writing and knowledge of the land in which it is set