Marianne Macdonald (1)

Antiquarian bookseller Dido Hoare finds one of her occasional customers somewhat ill. She takes him to a hospital. He checks himself out and is assisted by a man whom the nurses presume to be his son. Dido becomes concerned when she doesn't see him and mentions it to her police friend. The man shows back up in her shop, but it's only a short time later that he is found dead. Dido finds herself in an unusual position of being named his executor, even though she didn't know him well. The case show more is actually assigned to special branches in Scotland Yard because the man had once worked in intelligence. It's an interesting case with interesting turns of events, but I found myself disappointed in the resolution. show less

#6 Dido Hoare antiquarian bookseller mystery set in London. A regular customer of Dido’s has committed suicide and a few days later, her bank contacts her to say that the cheque he used to make his last purchase from her has bounced. She contacts the solicitors handling his estate and is hired by them to do a valuation on his books, and in the process of doing so, Dido realizes that something is just not right about the whole situation, and she begins to think perhaps someone helped Tim show more Curwen over his balcony. Conversations with a small nearly-blind lad who lives next door and a couple of irate CID detectives who pop in to the flat to see what Dido is doing there begin to raise her suspicions even more. Dido, naturally, gets herself into investigating and helps unlock the mystery.

Once again I have to say that, much like the last book in this series that I read, I found most of the situations to be totally implausible. Why on earth would a woman with a young toddler to raise put herself in such jeopardy on a continual basis?? This was not a person she had any sort of deep relationship with so that her running hither and yon would be inspired by passion or a deep friendship of great longevity or something. Why would policemen willingly share details of ongoing investigations with her—a bookseller and rank amateur—and even invite her along on snooping expeditions? Why would she willingly withhold vital evidence from the investigating officers and still not be able to figure out the bad guy til the end of the book when I had figured it out about a third of the way through? LOL I just can’t see how any of this could have happened, really… my head was rattling continuously as I shook it incredulously.

Don’t get me wrong—I like Dido and her world a lot (what’s not to like about an antiquarian bookstore??) and I’m still wishing her father were a real person that I could call up and natter with. BUT… truly, I think the author needs to make situations that an amateur like Dido could reasonably get into or else make her a policewoman. Were I basing my grade strictly on the characters and settings, the book would get an A, but the continual stream of ludicrous actions by Dido just plain lowered it to mediocre status. show less

This is one of those mysteries where nothing makes sense. All of the things that take place don't seem to relate to each other. This is probably the way it seems if you are inside the events in real life, so I guess in that respect it is a well written mystery book. From a reader's point of view, I want to know more than the characters do. Yes, I am one of those people that always reads the last page first.

The ending was a little confusing. I don't know if I was too tired or it was too show more complex, but I didn't understand how 1) the police didn't get the bad guys if they had all of the exits surrounded; 2) the bad guys got what they wanted and were searching for and 3) how Dido and Barnabus got to keep what they received. I may have been reading the book too quickly.

One thing that bugs me about this book is Dido's name, Dido Hoare. The reasoning behind her first name is explained in t his, the first installment of the series, but it just seems too precious to me. I think the book would have been just as effective with the main character being named Jenny Smith. show less

Dido Hoare goes to visit her friend Lizzie Waring in Somerset. The Warings live on a large estate called Monksdale, but Lizzie and her husband (one of the brothers) live in a cottage on the property. A son who confessed to the murder of a maid is being released from prison. He had a rather short sentence but Dido does not understand why his sentence was so long under the circumstances as related to her. When she talks to the investigating officer, she learns of several of his misgivings show more about the case from the start. She begins her own investigation into the matter. There is a missing rare edition of Peter Rabbit that is obviously related to the case. The setting of this installment reminds one of the old Gothic or romantic suspense novels. This book, however, definitely does not fit into the romance category. The fact that Dido had other females to turn to for help is also a departure from the usual plots in that field. The setting mainly served as a backdrop for the sinister misdeed that had occurred a few years ago. As with most cozies, the plot is not very plausible in several places. It was also pretty obvious from an early point in the novel what had happened. I did not really like the way the author ended the novel, leaving readers wishing that the threads had been more satisfactorily resolved. show less