To Perish in Penzance (Dorothy Martin Mysteries, No. 7) [Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Jeanne M. Dams (Author), Kate Reading (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2001

Like Mother, Like Daughter

While Dorothy Martin loves nearly everything about England -- especially her new husband, retired police detective Alan Nesbitt -- she could do without September's incessant rain. The lure of the sunshine of Cornwall's picturesque coast and an unsolved mystery prove too tempting to resist.

Thirty years earlier, the murder of a beautiful woman had become Alan's first homicide investigation. The case, which was never solved, haunts him still. Upon their arrival, Dorothy and Alan meet a young woman who, it turns out, is the daughter of that long-ago victim. Tragically, Lexa shares the same fate as her mother when she, too, is found dead on the rocky shores of Penzance.

In a town teeming with legends and lore, Dorothy vows to avenge two innocent deaths and bring a clever killer to justice.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Cornwall has a tradition as a setting for good mysteries, and this latest from Dams is no exception. In the seventh Dorothy Martin mystery (after 2000's Killing Cassidy), the retired Indiana school teacher and her husband, Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt (Ret.), escape from their rainy home in Sherebury to sunny Penzance, where Dorothy avowedly, and Alan less openly, hope to find evidence to solve a mystery that has long haunted Alan the mysterious death of an unknown girl. Their Penzance vacation starts auspiciously enough with a chance meeting with a cancer patient and her beautiful daughter, as well as a party invitation from one of the town's leading citizens. Within a few days, however, history seems to be repeating itself when the daughter is found dead, apparently of a drug overdose. The opportunity to investigate is all too tempting, especially when the police shelve the inquiry to pursue other matters, including a bank robbery and the missing granddaughter of the couple's party host. Dorothy, who likes to gossip over tea or brandy, and Alan, who is methodical and thorough, make an appealing sleuthing pair. The tightly constructed plot contains enough twists to keep the reader wondering, though the somewhat weak solution rests on Dorothy's suppositions rather than on the concrete evidence her husband or the police might have provided. Well-drawn characters and striking sense of place make this a welcome addition to the series. (Nov. 23)(Forecasts, Apr. 16) and other mysteries in the Hilda Johansson series.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Rainy-day boredom leads series sleuth Dorothy Martin an American retired to England to vacation in Cornwall with her British husband, a retired policeman. Once there, she zeroes in on the unsolved 1968 murder of an unidentified young woman. Firmly and successfully in the cozy tradition.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Books on Tape; Unabridged edition (December 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0736684840
• ISBN-13: 978-0736684842
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,946,063 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful mystery, November 20, 2001

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: To Perish in Penzance (Dorothy Martin Mysteries, No. 7) (Hardcover)

American Dorothy Martin lives in Belleshire, England where her husband Alan Nesbitt once served as Chief Constable. Dorothy and Alan love one another and enjoy their life together, but the heavy rain is driving her crazy. They agree to escape by vacationing in Penzance, where Alan conducted his first homicide case, one he never solved.

Dorothy believes the trip will give her spouse closure for failing to uncover who killed the beautiful victim. However, the opposite happens as they come upon the corpse of the daughter of the woman killed yeas ago in that same cave in Penzance. Lexa had come to Penzance to learn the identity of her father and that of her mother's killer. Now Allan and Dorothy feel obligated to complete Lexa's quest.

Jeanne M.Dams makes a case that there is plenty of life left after sixty as her two sexagenarians' show more vigor and endurance than marathon runners do. Readers will like this crazy pair who love with a passion found in newlyweds four decades younger than them. The mystery is well written leaving the audience to wonder not only who the killer is but if he is the person who killed Lexa's mother. TO PERISH IN PENZANCE is a stirring cozy.

Harriet Klausner

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Parallel Perils in Penzance, December 1, 2002

By 

Mamalinde "mamalinde" (Dallas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: To Perish in Penzance (Dorothy Martin Mysteries, No. 7) (Paperback)

An unlikely plot, and dialogue that crosses over into trite way too often, still an interesting travelogue and glimpse into the coastal town of Penzance. Dorothy Martin is a retired American schoolteacher and recent newlywed to retired Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt. Escaping the constant rain in their cathedral town, this unlikely pair of sleuths head for the sunshine at the seaside, and another peek at a decades old crime. The likelihood of a repeat of that crime is a stretch, and Dorothy crosses the line between caring and interested into nosy and bossy one time too many for this reader. The story has moments of charm and a sense of place, but could have benefited from a map (most books could?). Not a strong recommendation, but still an interesting escape.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars wooden dialogue and improbable coincidences, April 11, 2002

By A Customer

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This review is from: To Perish in Penzance (Dorothy Martin Mysteries, No. 7) (Hardcover)

This latest entry in the Dorothy Martin series is characterized by wooden dialogue and improbable coincidences. It completely lacks the charm of the earlier entries in the series.

The married couple whose unlikely detective antics are at the center of this series are dull and preachy in this book. Their activities are farfetched in most of the books, but their charm and the atmosphere of their village make the books enjoyable. Unfortunately, this book lacks both charm and atmosphere. Instead of the glorious side of Cornwall, we see Cornwall as a center of illegal drug activity. Instead of charming interplay between Alan and Dorothy, we see preaching and the discussion of topics which most married couples (or even dating couples) would long have exhausted between them. There is an awful lot about Alan that Dorothy does not know, ranging from how he feels about criminals and capital punishment to what he did in the military. How could they not have discussed such topics? Alan is often patronizing to his wife, and Dorothy for the first time seems relatively unintelligent.

The mystery itself is the real weakness in this novel. It is based on the most unbelievable set of coincidences. This string of coincidences begins with the fact that Dorothy proposes a trip to Cornwall to try to solve a mystery that Alan had failed to solve thirty years earlier, and they (by chance) end up staying in the hotel with the daughter of the murder victim. Help!

I kept reading, and finished the book, but I do not recommend it. The characterizations in it are as superficial as the relationship Alan and Dorothy apparently have, and the plot is absurd.