Three Silent Things
Mayhew’s latest is the best kind of village British cozy: warmhearted, gentle, and oh-so-English. After his wife dies, the colonel retires to the Dorset village of Frog’s End and buys a rose-covered cottage where he can nurse his grief. But before his first year is over, he’s solved the murder of Lady Swynford and earned the respect of the villagers and the police alike. Now he’s about to play amateur sleuth for a second time. Knocking on doors to collect for the Save the Donkey fund, he’s shocked to stumble on the dead body of reclusive celebrity Lois Delaney. Although the police rule her death a suicide, the colonel doesn’t buy it and begins to question Delaney’s friends, family, and neighbors. Wonderfully warm (murder notwithstanding), full of chuckle-inducing humor, possessing an authentic village feel, and featuring a cast of highly eccentric characters, this is vintage Mayhew. --Emily Melton