Elizabeth Eyre
Author of Death of the Duchess
About the Author
Disambiguation Notice:
"Elizabeth Eyre" and "Susannah Stacey" are pseudonyms used by the writing team of Jill Staynes and Margaret Storey.
Series
Works by Elizabeth Eyre
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Other names
- Eyre, Elizabeth
Stacey, Susannah - Gender
- n/a
- Relationships
- Staynes, Jill
Storey, Margaret - Short biography
- Jill Staynes writes her own novels as well as writing under the names of Elizabeth Eyre and Susannah Stacy with Margaret Storey. The Elizabeth Eyre pen name seems only to have been used for the Sigismondo series of novels and the Susannah Stacy pen name a series of mystery novel featuring widowed British police Superintendent Bone. They were pupils at the same school where they invented bizarre characters and exchanged serial episodes about them. Their first book together. at the age of fifteen, was called 'Bungho, or why we went to Aleppo'. It was not offered for publication. They have both written stories for children, and together created the highly praised Superintendent Bone modern detective novels as well as this series of Italian Renaissance whodunnits.
- Map Location
- UK
- Disambiguation notice
- "Elizabeth Eyre" and "Susannah Stacey" are pseudonyms used by the writing team of Jill Staynes and Margaret Storey.
Members
Reviews
While former nanny Phoebe Gray was loved by the many children she had cared for in the small English village, not all adults felt the same way about her. Nanny had Parkinson's and was prone to falls, so when her body was discovered in a wooded area, it was assumed that she had fallen and hit her head. However, the Superintendent Bone and his partner are unable to find anything in her home that matches the fatal injury. Nanny had recently inherited a large sum of money from a former charge. show more Was this the motive for her murder? Or did she know a secret that one of her families would kill to keep?
There were several things I liked about this debut mystery, but it had a few problems. The development of characters and motives wasn't consistent. A few suspects received a lot of attention, while a few others weren't developed very well. I frequently felt like something was missing from a description or a conversation. I think the book needed a little more detail. There was a nice balance between the investigation and Superintendent Bone's personal life. I liked his relationship with his daughter Charlotte, who is recovering from a serious brain injury from the accident that killed Bone's wife and young son. The book's good points outweigh its flaws, and I'll be on the lookout for more books in this series. show less
There were several things I liked about this debut mystery, but it had a few problems. The development of characters and motives wasn't consistent. A few suspects received a lot of attention, while a few others weren't developed very well. I frequently felt like something was missing from a description or a conversation. I think the book needed a little more detail. There was a nice balance between the investigation and Superintendent Bone's personal life. I liked his relationship with his daughter Charlotte, who is recovering from a serious brain injury from the accident that killed Bone's wife and young son. The book's good points outweigh its flaws, and I'll be on the lookout for more books in this series. show less
I give this book (published in 1990) two stars. I found some of the content did not age well. offending modern standards. There is a school custodian who is reported by the children as groping them and peeping at them, making them feel afraid and disturbed by his behavior, but there is nothing dome by the school or the police once he leaves the school when he's told to. Of course he will go on to reoffend, and who knows if he will escalate. I can't believe this was legal in the UK, and if it show more was, it was immoral and unwise. Otherwise, the mystery was unusual in there seemed to be mental illness causing the murderer to snap, and that was never addressed officially. I put this all down to different times and differing generational standards - the authors were born in 1926 and 1927 respectively.
I know some older mysteries don't hold up to a modern reader's viewpoint, but I'll keep reading these since I have the whole set. Looking at the changes in the genre and the update in standard mores could be interesting, and the books aren't long ones. show less
I know some older mysteries don't hold up to a modern reader's viewpoint, but I'll keep reading these since I have the whole set. Looking at the changes in the genre and the update in standard mores could be interesting, and the books aren't long ones. show less
I skipped book 4 because it hasn't arrived via mail yet, so I read book five. I liked it much better than the second and third books in the series. The mystery had more twists and turns, and the murders kept the momentum going. I did guess the murderer and motive, but the reveal was still satisfying. I was impatient with some of the characters in the book - too many were so narcissistic they were unbearable.
Published in 1989, this cozy English mystery is short by modern standards at 188 pages, but the authors (a duo of long-time friends who penned this series) managed to give both plot, characterization, and a bit of social commentary all in less than 200 pages. I gave this mystery four stars for the deft plotting and overall entertainment that Superintendent Bone provided. I have the next two books in this series, acquired from a Little Free Library in Seattle, and I'll start the next one show more soon. The series is out of print and not available in eBook format, so I had to resort to thrift stores online to find the others. show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 14
- Members
- 1,215
- Popularity
- #21,126
- Rating
- 3.5
- Reviews
- 21
- ISBNs
- 85
- Languages
- 4
- Favorited
- 1