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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
She is the mistress of the village mystery, June 15, 2002
This review is from: Shades of Murder: A Mitchell And Markby Mystery (Hardcover)
Ann Granger is simply superb. She is the mistress of the modern day mistress, and probably the closest thing we have to an accurate modernization of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple series. The writing is flawless, and the characters utterly brilliant. They are incredibly well drawn, with what seems little effort. They jump off the page, and are very realistic. She spins her plot effortlessly, and glides back and forward between the two time-frames completely effortlessly. The two crimes interconnect realisticly (not as they did in Mary Higgins's Clark's "On The Street Where You Live". A very good book, but the way the murders seperated by a hundred years were connected was completely far-fetched. This book is a much better example of how to do it.). The double-plots do lack...excitement, is probably the word. But they are nonetheless very interesting, as well as being bouyed up by her sprightly writing style. As always, the strength of this excellent series is found in it's two protagonists, Alan Markby and Meredith Mitchell. For over 10 books now, their relationship has been slowly developing. In fact, considering that theyve known each other for ten books is amazing, considering how far their relationship has actually gone. (Not all that far.) It's surprising that AG has got away with it for so long! But that is what adds freshness and an extra dimension of suspense to the story, the will they/wont they aspects of their developemental relationship. They are two brilliantly well drawn characters. Interesting. And the reader keeps reading, rooting all the while for them to finally get it together officially. And with this book, their relationship takes another small step forward, leaving the reader wonder just what might be in store for them in the near future...
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
not a bad read at all, October 11, 2001
This review is from: Shades of Murder: A Mitchell And Markby Mystery (Hardcover)
This latest Meredith Mitchell & Alan Markby murder mystery proved to be a completely interesting and absorbing read for me. The thing I like about this series is that Ann Granger takes the old 'murder in a cosy village' motif, and expands on that so that it becomes something a lot more modern and accessible, and yet somehow manages not to lose that patina of nostalgia. And with "Shades of Murder," Granger has come up trumps again. About 100 years ago, 'Wicked' William Oakley was tried for poisoning-murder of his heiress wife, Cora, who was about to divorce him and take all her lovely money with her. His was found not guilty of the crime, but such was the feeling in the village of Bramford that he had got away with the crime, that 'Wicked' William left Bramford and England, never to be heard of again. In Bramford, William is survived by his two granddaughters, Damaris and Florence. Now, in their 80s, the sisters hope to sell their crumbling ruin of an estate, and to move to more modern accommodations, in order to live whatever is left of their lives in some comfort. All this suffers a setback, when a young Polish man (Jan Oakley) turns up claiming to be their nephew, the product of 'Wicked' William's second marriage. Jan has decided to put in his claim for half of his great grandfather's estate, to the dismay of Damaris and Florence, and to the fury of the sisters' friends (who include Juliet Painter, the forensic pathologist's sister, Markby's own sister, Laura, who also happens to be the sisters' solicitor, and Meredith, herself). And then, just as the tension is at its highest, Jan is poisoned with arsenic. Leaving aside the question of who would want Jan dead as there are just too many suspects there, the question of the day seems to be where the murderer obtained from, as well how (s)he administered the poison. For Superintendent Markby, this whole case is proving to be a both a professional and personal headache. His fondness for the Oakley sisters makes him want to handle the case delicately for their sakes, however his close relationships with everyone concerned makes it highly unlikely that he will be allowed to investigate Jan's murder. And his fears prove only all too true what the chief constable calls in the heavy guns and two investigators from the London Met are sent down to handle the case. Will the 'outsiders' be canny enough to handle the villagers and solve the case? And will Markby be able to stay out of the investigations, or will he throw caution to the winds and stick his oar in? The Oakley murders have all the hallmarks of a murder mystery set in the Golden Age of Mystery: a cosy English village, the macabre coincidence of two arsenic poisonings that link two murders within the same family, a 100 years apart, a murder victim that had somehow managed to antagonise nearly everyone in the village of Bramford, and where the suspects for this later murder include quite a few prominent members of the village... However Ann Granger deft handling of this old plot device made everything seem new and fresh. The book itself is divided into two subplots -- one subplot deals with the murder of Cora Oakley, and 'Wicked' William's trial; while the second subplot deals with the intrusion of Jan into his aunts' lives and all the mischief and mayhem he causes. Both plots were well crafted and executed, and the development of characters in the second modern plot was especially well done. (However, I was so caught up in the second modern plot that I sometimes felt that the juxtaposition of the William Oakley murder trail plot to be a bit of an intrusion.) There were even flashes of humour as when the two detectives from London come to realise that all the major players in the Jan Oakley poisoning case are especially well connected. The novel also revisits the old question of exactly where Meredith and Markby's relationship is going, but this time, I felt as if Granger was more successful in making the reader understand exactly where Meredith was coming from, and her reservations in tying herself completely to one person or one place. "Shades of Murder" was definitely a fun and absorbing read.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not up to standard, October 10, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Shades of Murder: A Mitchell And Markby Mystery (Hardcover)
I am a fan of Ann Granger, and I was looking forward to this addition to her Meredith-Markby series. Alas, I was disappointed. The book is fragmented and ultimately unsatisfying. This book deals with two murders that took place approximately 100 years apart. There is no real effort to integrate the two; despite some connections, their presence in the same novel seems largely coincidental. The earlier murder is reported, not analyzed or studied, and certainly not detected. The later murder is the real subject matter of the detective portion of this story. Unfortunately, the solution is excessively pat, and the reader is given no way of knowing how Meredith arrives at it. It just sort of seems to strike her at the end of the book. As far as I could tell, there were few clues and no analysis--just a conclusion. This book did have some highlights. The head Scotland Yard detective assigned to the mystery (Markby is off the case, as he is too close to the characters involved in it) turns out to be an interesting addition to Granger's usual characters. I would have liked to get to know him better, though. The victim, however, was dull and artificial. It is hard to believe that anyone, even two elderly ladies (themselves wildly improbable), could have taken him at all seriously as a threat, and the explanation of why they did so does not hold water. Overall, a disappointing addition to this otherwise sound series.
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