Review: Early Book by Donna Fletcher Crow Reminiscent of Dorothy Sayers...
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 26, 2012
What a cool book! If you love mysteries, then this is for you! It's a double whammy! A Mystery within a mystery! And I loved it...and went out to order the next in series... Thanks so much to the author who has brought her earlier books to us through ebook editions!The author notes that she and her husband attended a mystery weekend and got the idea and then used one of her favorite authors, Dorothy L. Sayers, as background to her story. When I first started reading mysteries, gothic and crime novels, I had read Sayers, but, that's been a long time ago! So I was pleased to be reminded of this English author's work... I thought it was interesting that Crow chose to have a man and woman go to the mystery weekend, just as she had really done with her husband. I'm pretty sure, though she doesn't say, that there was not a real murder that time...Elizabeth Allerton and Richard Spenser worked together at a local college and were close friends. So close that Richard routinely sought her hand via a marriage proposal that Elizabeth routinely laughed at...but at the same time, thought nothing about asking Richard to go away for a week with her. Of course, to a mystery week! Elizabeth was often trying to persuade Richard to read more mysteries, which was her passion, and she had recently taught her new course, mystery writing, to a sellout crowd of students. She was excited because Sir Gavin Kendall was going to be there--an expert in mysteries that followed the style of Dorothy Sayers.Richard probably wouldn't have gone if he had known that when Elizabeth set eyes on Sir Gavin, she immediately saw the man of her dreams! He was everything that she had ever dreamed that the man she would love would be...And it seemed to be mutual...They were quickly placed in a small group, with which they would work during the week. After their meal, she had looked up and saw Sir Gavin, who would be working with her group and who was also a character in the murder mystery. In fact, it turned out that he had been engaged to the woman who had been murdered!I must admit that the whole adventure of a mystery week is intriguing to me, so I thoroughly enjoyed the actual play and then the followup interviews with all the potential "murderers..." But that was not to be the only murder to solve...That could not totally detract from what had happened to Elizabeth when she had entered her room there...It happened later because when she was first in the room, the door to the bathroom was stuck, and now it was ajar...She had gone into her bathroom and saw a body! And promptly fainted!When she woke up, she was told that the body had really been one of the actors and that they had since decided to eliminate that part of the mystery since she had reacted so violently. And so, the week continued, the mystery must be solved! And Elizabeth was enjoying having private times with Sir Gavin, while Richard had an admirer from their group that was quite willing to share some time with him!And then jewelry was stolen from various guests!As the week continued and the investigations became more involved, Richard and Elizabeth found themselves teamed in a search, and discovered the "dead body" (yes, the same man who she had seen in her bathroom) in another bedroom. Elizabeth was totally committed to finding out what had really happened, but as she tried to think through the mystery--then the clues of the fictional mystery would come to mind...It was fun to watch, fun to read...but not fun for her!Clues, clues, clues--the characters in this story are soon involved completely, but were still committed to winning the prize for solving the week's mystery...Now police were involved, conducting their interviews, while the game participants continued to search for their guilty character! Confused yet? You should be because that's the fun of having a mystery develop within a mystery week! Right? Too confusing for you? Then you're really not a mystery fan...LOL...and, all of this occurred well before all the magic of CSI and its scientific evidence. These clues went all the way back to the basics, but Elizabeth knew what she was doing... maybe too much...I think it is important to highlight the type of book this is since it is a perfect example of the length and structure  of earlier mysteries written as gothic romance/suspense...I grew up on this type of book; but there is quite a difference in later works of Donna Fletcher Crow.  A Very Private Grave is a complex in-depth historical mystery that responds to today's demand for more narrative and descriptive material on characters and setting. So recognize what you are buying in this later edition of an earlier published book. If you enjoy both, fine, but do recognize the two for distinct periods in publishing...In my opinion, Crow has steadily responded to the desires of her fans in writing both types of books... Her later, more contemporary books are excellent as well!Highly recommended for those who enjoy the game of mystery solving...GABixlerReviews