John Sherwood (1) (1913–2002)

This is an excellent little psychological mystery. The hero is a young college-age boy who accidentally stumbles into a situation that he pursues, first for his own fully understandable adolescent reasons, but finally solves because of some strength of character, perseverance and curiosity. The author uses the very delightful device of having his young hero speculate the motives of the various individuals he encounters, right down to the imagined dialogue. It is done in a way that makes show more clear how the lead character is turning over the possibilities in his mind, and quite naturally drags the reader along. There is just enough of a “what if” approach to this speculation that keeps one wondering if the character has it right, or if we have been more sage in interpreting the facts to develop the theory. In the end Jim is right, and his reward is solving the mystery, leaving completely open whether he gets the girl. Very nicely done. show less

Psychological motivation which supports the plot struck me as unconvincing, but the writing is excellent and a central plot point—events at the local skating rink—-was intriguing. A skating rink in a small English village near Brighton is unexpected to begin with, especially one frequented by a mangy group of “beatniks”—-Sherwood’s term. He obviously knows a fair bit about skating. All in all, considering it was a green Penguin I bought for the cover art, a pleasant surprise.

This is the second volume in a cozy series about sleuthing English botanist Celia Grant. I wasn’t particularly thrilled with the first entry in the series but I’m glad I decided to stick with it. This entry is set in New Zealand and features foolish lords, morally-challenged MPs, leftist terrorists, and endangered alpine flora. If you’re into plants the horticultural name-dropping will keep you googling. If this sounds like you’re thing, give some John Sherwood mysteries a shot.

The surrounding cast of characters were all extremely annoying. But I would like to try another by this author because Celia the main character is likeable.