Customer Reviews

The Lamorna Wink [Unabridged] [Audiobook]

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

 

 

This reading by Donada Peters brings great emotion and immediacy to this dark novel. I suspect you will like the story better if you listen to this recording rather than read the book.

Those who love Richard Jury should be warned that he plays a tiny role in this story, barely appearing before the book is two-thirds over. Instead, The Lamorna Wink places Melrose Plant at the center of the action and most of the detecting is done by Brian Macalvie, a division commander in the Devon and Cornwall police who you may remember from Help the Poor Struggler. There's another warning that you should heed. This book contains one of the most disturbing fictional scenes about children that I have ever read.

Melrose wants to escape from Long Piddleton and Aunt Agatha, but can't seem to shake her when he looks into renting a mansion on the sea in Cornwall. He finds an empty home that suits the bill and soon learns about the tragic deaths of two young children that have led the family to abandon their home. Aunt Agatha decides to join him as she pursues a sudden interest in a real estate sales career. Avoiding Aunt Agatha provides the comic relief for much of this story.

Moving in, Melrose soon finds himself in the middle of new mysteries when the aunt of a local lad, Johnny Wells, unexpectedly disappears. Soon thereafter a woman with a mysterious past, Sada Colthorp, is found dead and suspicion starts to be cast on the aunt.

Because there are "aristos" and rich Americans involved, Macalvie asks Plant to get involved so he can pick up the inside scoop that won't be shared with the police. Melrose obliges . . . but doesn't really find out very much.

Sergeant Wiggins is recruited to help Macalvie and has a marvelous cameo role where his hypochondria and obsessive note-taking combine to help him spot the key facts.

Events later begin to take many unexpected turns and twists, and doubt is cast of the motives of many of the characters.

Ms. Grimes also gives us an amusing secondary story line about Vivian Rivington's plans to marry her "Count Dracula" as her friends like to call him. Clearly, this is an attempt to lighten an otherwise dark story. Sometimes the diversions are welcome, and other times they are not. I suspect this novel would have worked better as unrelieved darkness.