Review: Murder in a British Village-- 21st Century Mystery
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 18, 2012
Libby Sarjeant's friends keep reminding her that she isn'tMiss Marple, as indeed she isn't.  Agatha Christie's spinster detective did not smoke, drink a bit too much at times or find a local gentleman fanciable-- at least that the reader knew.  Nor is Martin Steeple much like St Mary Meade, the village where Miss Marple first plied her detective skills.  However, Miss Marple would certainly recognize that the plot of this entertaining village mystery is based on old sins casting long shadows.The problems begin when a play based on the author's family experiences as hop pickers is being rehearsed at the newly converted Oast House Theatre-- an Oast House is a building expressly built as a drying kiln for hops used in brewing. Libby is the director of the mostly amateur group. A number of minor but potentially serious accidents involving the Theatre and the crew prove grist for Libby's Sarjeant's investigative skills until there is a death and things grow very serious indeed. The police are called in and it seems that Libby's friends are all suddenly suspects.Easily dated by internal evidence-- the smokers are awaiting with dread the July 1, 2007 ban on smoking in enclosed work places-- it's a very modern village but still has the enclosed and intimate feeling that makes village mysteries so successful.