Customer Reviews

A day in the death of Dorothea Cassidy

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

 

 

If you enjoy mysteries without gore and sex - this is the book for you - nice easy reading with a great plot !

plot !

I'm a big Ann Cleeves fan. I was definitely hooked once I had finished Bird in the Hand (George and Molly Palmer-Jones Mysteries).

This story is not in the same series as the aforementioned one -- here Detective Inspector Ramsay tries to track down the killer of a vicar's wife. She was lovely and effervescent but she had acquired the bad habit of trying to "help" folks who really just wanted to be left alone. As a consequence, her corpse was discovered early one morning in the local park while a village street carnival progressed happily along nearby. This tale does not lack for suspects, even subsequent to a second murder.

I actually correctly guessed the murderer's identity at the same moment as did the police in this one -- but then I've read so many of these cozy murders that I do nowadays tend to get about sixty percent of them right.

Unlike Cleeves' George and Molly Palmer-Jones series, this one lacked the endearing wallpaper -- it was more straight-forward. While I will not re-read it at a later date, I can still certainly recommend this clever mystery as a worthwhile entry among the author's numerous other fine works.

A Day in the Death of Dorothea Cassidy by Ann Cleeves continues the Stephen Ramsay series. The protagonist is sympathetic--a British Inspector who is very human in his uncertainties and sympathies for the victims and for the criminals. He is paired with Hunter, who is in many ways his opposite number; they both are ambivalent about the partnership. The plotting is fair, in that the clues to the solution are scattered through the novel, and the reader does have the information necessary to solve the murder. There is none of the gratuitous graphic violence and gory description so often included in current novels. While not technically a "cozy," A Day in the Death of Dorothea Cassidy certainly belongs in the softer, gentler tradition of the golden age mysteries.

Dorothea Cassidy isn't as universally adored as is appeared on the surface. She was good at ruffling feathers and it got her in trouble. DI Ramsay has the task of sorting through quite the list of people who were less than enamored by her and those who liked her a bit too much.

This book was an interesting read that really got into the hearts and minds of the people in orbit around Mrs. Cassidy. Well written and descriptive, it did a lot without having to resort to grossing out readers to be memorable.