Customer Reviews

A Word After Dying

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
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Inspector Alan Markby and his girlfriend Meredith Mitchell share a holiday in Parsloe St. John where they learn that an old woman recently died when she tripped and fell down some stairs. Thinking of early retirement, Alan is very interested in buying the deceased's cottage while Meredith wonders if the rumors of murder are true.

Alan's disinterest in the senior citizen's death rapidly changes when the head of a handyman is found severed from the body. Other evidence of nearby satanic worship also exists. Instead of a laid back restful holiday, Alan and Meredith begin a working vacation as they investigate the rash of strange doings, that have rocked the tiny village and its eccentric people.

A WORD AFTER DYING is a very interesting entry in the Markby-Mitchell mystery series because the lead protagonists are not quite featured as much as in previous entries. Instead the local villagers seem to dominate the story line as Alan and Meredith propel their stories and the who-done-it forward. Surprisingly, this cleverly works, turning the story line into an invigorating, very interesting novel. Fans of the series and the English cozy need to read Ann Granger's newest novel (as well as the rest of the series) to enjoy some of the top books in the sub-genre.

Harriet Klausner

Ann Granger's Markby and Mitchell series is a very satisfying one. She has the genre of the English village mystery down to a tee. In this book Meredith and Alan are on vacation in the Cotswolds, and even there they can't get away from strange happenings and murder. They discover a witch's coven, the village Romeo and even the village young man who has a lot of psychological problems. I really enjoy the way the Meredith and Alan's relationship is progressing. They are are good complimentary sleuthing duo. I enjoy a book that takes me to where the book is written, and one that feels like an old friend. Granger's series is this for me. Once I begin one of her books, I'm taken away from everything else in my life.

Granger's books would lead one to believe that English villages are among the most insular and dangerous places on earth. In this one she follows a rather predictable pattern that she has established in her earlier books. Alan Markby and Meredith Mitchell are vacationing in a village. Markby is asked to look into the unsuspicious death of a reclusive widow. Meredith gets, as always, a local historical angle to investigate. The mystery isn't all that interesting, but the characters have a certain charm, and that's what Granger's books are really about. This particular novel is poorly edited, with some typos and some words left out. Most of the omissions don't do any more than annoy the reader, but at one point there's a reference to Markby's sister, Laura, and to her husband Paul, who is described as Markby's brother. And yet Markby complains about the inbreeding in an English village! Granger's writing could be tighter. For instance, she describes a minor character -- a police officer -- at great length, when all he does is find a weapon and then disappear. Granger might heed Elmore Leonard's advice to "leave out the parts that people tend to skip." There is a nice twist at the end, though, which a careful reader might have anticipated from one clue, but it's not such a blatant clue that the surprise is ruined.

Until this year's Friends of the Tucson [& Pima County] Public Library book sale, I hadn't heard of this series. I picked up the first, second, and fifth books there. After I read them, I bought every book I could find in town. As soon as I learned there were more, I ordered them. I liked this book as much as the others. The bits of historical information we learn along the way were interesting,(especially how the people of the Regency period obtained a certain shade of pink paint). There are at least three separate mysteries: Who is the vicious vandal? Who committed the murder? What was the secret of the elderly recluse? and are they in any way connected? I can't feel too smug guessing the vandal's identity 32 pages before it was revealed or the recluse's secret 4 pages before Alan caught on because I missed a lot of clues and I didn't guess the killer. Furthermore, I didn't get even a whiff of the final revelation's coming. However, it wouldn't matter if readers could guess everything correctly. This series is worth reading just for the characters. Other comments: There's a very good lesson to be learned from the vandal's motive, but I don't know how many readers will heed it when it's so much easier to look the other way. On p.44, full paragraph 3, Alan says they're on the first floor, but they're upstairs. It was nice to learn that the game I knew as "gossip" is called "Chinese whispers" in England. The dust jacket wouldn't tempt me to buy the book if I were not already a fan, but it's rather pretty. Ann E. Nichols

I enjoy the Meredith and Markby series very much and recommend them to all those who enjoy English mysteries. Please keep them coming.

To any one who is going to take the plunge, go back to the beginning so you can enjoy them all.