Customer Reviews

Sins Out of School (Dorothy Martin Mysteries, No. 8)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I enjoy this light mystery series. I find Dorothy Martin interesting - mature, yet sometimes silly enough to make her not stuffy. This is the eighth in the series and one of the better ones. A schoolteacher's husband is killed and she, along with her young daughter, are having trouble coping with all the pressures that would go along with that. In steps Dorothy to help her both with the coping and with the solving of the mystery. Her investigation takes her a few times to London, which provides a break from the smalltown descriptions that normally accompany a book in this series. There were two reasons I did not give this book 4 stars: I was able to figure out the culprit long before the end of the book and I find the character of Dorothy's husband, Alan, a 2-dimensional character and wish he would be fleshed out a bit. But, this is a quite enjoyable read and I would recommend it, particularly to those that have read the earlier books in the series.

This seemed to me to be one of the better books in this Dorothy Martin series. The plotting and characters were well done and the story moved along quickly and evenly. The plot opens with a totally submissive mother and young daughter, one or both of whom appear to have murdered the domineering husband/father. They don't ask for Dorothy Martin's help but they get it anyway. She and her ex-Chief Constable husband work on the case, tracking it through a self-righteous religious sect and almost to the British parliament.

The writer does two tricky things well. She manages to write reasonably accurately about life in an small English cathedral town from the point of view of an American, and she has two people working as a detective team without turning one of them into a buffoon (as in the Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot novels). She has also presented a fairly long series without becoming formulaic.

If you enjoy this genre, you'll probably like this book, so curl up beside the fire and enjoy, and share it with a friend.

The story begins with a Thanksgiving Celebration in the heart of a British Cathedral town. Dorothy Martin, American Chatterbox with arthritic knees and the new wife of former Chief Constable Alan Nesbit, is begged to fill in for a teacher during a flu epidemic. While doing an admirable job as a substitute teacher, she becomes aware of bit of oddness and suddenly finds herself in the midst of a very unusual murder case. Jeanne Dams does an EXCELLENT sense of setting in her cozy mysteries, and the detective work is plausible. The Dorothy Martin character with her wacky hats and nosy questions does get on my nerves just a bit, but I like her anyway. The religious angle to the book was well set out and quite interesting and the characters were ones the reader could care about.

If you like Miss Marple you will enjoy this mystery .Dorothy Martin is an almost 70 year old American who has married a retired British police constable.In this book, she gets involved with a very strict fundamentalist church. I found the characters very believeable. The author, Jeanne M. Dams, has won a mystery award for another one of her books.

Ms. Dams' characters are always people you want to know, but Dorothy Martin is her best, and this book is a winner. It is the kind of tale that the term 'cozy' was coined for - a great read for a cold night in front of a blazing fire, with a cat on your lap or a dog at your side.

I've really enjoyed the other books in the Dorothy Martin series, especially Holy Terror in the Hebrides and Victim in Victoria Station. I'm only 60 pages into Sins Out of School, and I think I've closed the book for good. Another reviewer had it right - Jeanne Dams has become sanctimonious.

If you're Anglican / Episcopalian and are into heavy tradition and an "important" building to worship in, this book may be for you. Otherwise, stick with the previous books in the series.