HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

The Cornish Coast Murder (British Library…
Loading...

The Cornish Coast Murder (British Library Crime Classics) (original 1935; edition 2014)

by John Bude, Martin Edwards (Introduction)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
4052061,909 (3.56)61
Classic Literature. Fiction. Mystery. Historical Fiction. HTML:

Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder

"The combination of bracing Cornish cliffs and seascapes with cozy interiors and a cerebral mystery makes this one of the most deservedly resurrected titles in the British Library Crime Classics series." â??Booklist STARRED review

'Never, even in his most optimistic moments, had he visualised a scene of this natureâ??himself in one armchair, a police officer in another, and between them a mystery.'

The Reverend Dodd, vicar of the quiet Cornish village of Boscawen, spends his evenings reading detective stories by the firesideâ??but heaven forbid that the shadow of any real crime should ever fall across his seaside parish. The vicar's peace is shattered one stormy night when Julius Tregarthan, a secretive and ill-tempered magistrate, is found at his house in Boscawen with a bullet through his head.

The local police inspector is baffled by the complete absence of clues. Luckily for Inspector Bigswell, the Reverend Dodd is on hand, and ready to put his keen understanding of the criminal mind to the test.

This classic mystery novel of the golden age of British crime fiction is set against the vividly described backdrop of a fishing village on Cornwall's Atlantic coast. It is now republished for the first time since the 1930s with an introduction by award-winning crime writer Martin Edwa… (more)

Member:john257hopper
Title:The Cornish Coast Murder (British Library Crime Classics)
Authors:John Bude
Other authors:Martin Edwards (Introduction)
Info:The British Library Publishing Division (2014), Kindle Edition, 206 pages
Collections:Your library, Owned, eBooks
Rating:***1/2
Tags:eBook, fiction, whodunnit, Cornwall and Scilly Isles, 2014, Kindle Store

Work Information

The Cornish Coast Murder by John Bude (1935)

Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 61 mentions

English (19)  French (1)  All languages (20)
Showing 1-5 of 19 (next | show all)
A perfect little cozy. I'm looking forward to checking out more of the British Library Crime Classic books. ( )
  dhenn31 | Jan 24, 2024 |
This cozy crime novel from the 1930s looked promising at the start, with a scene of a vicar, who lives near the rocky Cornish coast, getting together for a regular meeting with the local doctor. They take delivery of their latest books from a lending library and share them out - both are keen readers of crime fiction. And soon they are involved in the aftermath of a real life local murder, though peripherally in the case of the doctor, and only to a limited extent on the part of the vicar.

I thought initially this might have a vicar-as-sleuth protagonist, and it probably would have been more interesting that way, but other than solving one difficulty in determining how the murder was carried out, his interest was more in exonerating a couple of young people than in actually solving the crime. That was left up to the colourless police inspector who took charge before long.

I had a few issues with this book. Firstly, it would greatly have benefited from a diagram showing how the house where the crime took place lay in relation to the cliff path, its own driveway, the vicarage etc. It seems that the back garden was so short that the house was practically on the cliff edge which doesn't sound sensible although I appreciate that in real life sudden and catastrophic cliff erosion has resulted in buildings actually collapsing into the sea. That didn't seem to be the case here - its precarious position was not even commented on - so it is very odd that it is so close - and a bit too convenient in terms of how it transpires the murder was supposed to have been carried out. I also found, in relation to that revelation, my suspension of disbelief collapsed under the strain. I just couldn't believe that (without giving a spoiler) the angle involved for gunshots were at all credible. Especially when another substance was supposed to have been tossed against a window just beforehand from the same point of origin.

The other main issue was that the motive for the crime and the person who carried it out were so peripheral to the story. I didn't feel that the author played fair with the reader. And the ending is so weird for crime fiction - for the murder in the story to have permanently put someone off reading crime fiction was so negative for the genre in which the writer was operating! It has permanently put me off reading any more of this author's fiction, but certainly not the greats of the era when this was written. And this copy didn't have the lovely 1930s railway poster cover that other editions have - good job it was a cheap Kindle one. All in all, I can only rate this as an 'OK' 2 stars. ( )
  kitsune_reader | Nov 23, 2023 |
I've read another book by this author ([b:The Sussex Downs Murder|24958623|The Sussex Downs Murder (Superintendent Meredith, #2)|John Bude|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1424202030s/24958623.jpg|43203581]) and found it really unimpressive so I was really surprised to find I actually liked this one quite a lot. The mystery isn't totally solvable before the end (it's solved with some stuff impossible to know, although none of it is a leap and it all fits) but there are a lot of spots you can get ahead of the main characters if you're good at this. I can't explain quite why I liked it a lot - as with the other book the characters are hardly deep and don't talk about much other than the mystery, but the dialogue still feels a lot more natural and clear. The mystery is also reasonably complex with a lot of red herrings but that are wrapped up in a way that makes you think "fair enough, that makes total sense" (although 1 or 2 are huge coincidences but that can be excused) and you end up feeling like you've been shown a part of a much wider world rather than one purely made for the mystery. I also liked the setting a lot which might have biased me a bit (I love Cornwall).

Not gonna say it's a must read or anything but if you like solid golden age style mysteries you'll probably like this. I did anyway ( )
  tombomp | Oct 31, 2023 |
From my TBR shelf, having picked it up from a charity shop. I became aware of this series of books - which have a lovely presentation, cover etc - after being given another in the series as a Christmas Present (The Mystery in White by J. Jefferson Parjeon). They are "British Library Crime Classics", and this book can be brought from the British Library website.

The story starts with the Vicar (The Reverend Dodd) and the local Doctor (Pendrill) sitting in front of the fire after their traditional Monday night dinner, and choosing who is going to get which books that have arrived that week. Both men are fans of crime novels, something that unites them better than religion (with the Doctor refusing to attend Sunday Services). It is a stormy night outside, with heavy rain and thunder. Suddenly, the phone goes, and it is Ruth Tregarthan from the house next door - her uncle has been found in the sitting room, dead from a gunshot to the head!

Inspector Bigswell of the local force is assigned to the case, and is pressurised by his Superintendent to solve the case quickly before the need to call in Scotland Yard. There is an immediate theory, when Ruth's close friend Robert Hardy (with whom she seems to have an "understanding") disappears the same night, after an argument with Tregarthan. Close to making an arrest, new facts come to light which scuppers the whole motive, and here is where Todd's "instinctual" detective work helps break the case.

This is rather a cosy detective novel, written in 1935, whose strengths seem to be in the "dot to dot" line of detective work, rather than the sparkling jumps around of Christie et al or the later procedurals of CSI and all the derivatives. There are some techniques that are surprising that they 1) exist and 2) aren't standard procedure in the police force (i.e. the use of string and poles to determine where shots were fired from which the vicar used, but the inspector kicked himself for not doing as standard).
  nordie | Oct 14, 2023 |
Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. ( )
  fernandie | Sep 15, 2022 |
Showing 1-5 of 19 (next | show all)
no reviews | add a review

» Add other authors (1 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Bude, Johnprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Edwards, MartinIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Schönfeld, EikeÜbersetzersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
The Reverend Dodd, Vicar of St. Michael's-on-the-Cliff, stood at the window of his comfortable bachelor study looking out into the night.
Quotations
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

Classic Literature. Fiction. Mystery. Historical Fiction. HTML:

Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder

"The combination of bracing Cornish cliffs and seascapes with cozy interiors and a cerebral mystery makes this one of the most deservedly resurrected titles in the British Library Crime Classics series." â??Booklist STARRED review

'Never, even in his most optimistic moments, had he visualised a scene of this natureâ??himself in one armchair, a police officer in another, and between them a mystery.'

The Reverend Dodd, vicar of the quiet Cornish village of Boscawen, spends his evenings reading detective stories by the firesideâ??but heaven forbid that the shadow of any real crime should ever fall across his seaside parish. The vicar's peace is shattered one stormy night when Julius Tregarthan, a secretive and ill-tempered magistrate, is found at his house in Boscawen with a bullet through his head.

The local police inspector is baffled by the complete absence of clues. Luckily for Inspector Bigswell, the Reverend Dodd is on hand, and ready to put his keen understanding of the criminal mind to the test.

This classic mystery novel of the golden age of British crime fiction is set against the vividly described backdrop of a fishing village on Cornwall's Atlantic coast. It is now republished for the first time since the 1930s with an introduction by award-winning crime writer Martin Edwa

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.56)
0.5
1
1.5
2 6
2.5 2
3 24
3.5 24
4 36
4.5 3
5 5

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,218,878 books! | Top bar: Always visible