Jeanne M. Dams

Dorothy Martin and her husband, ex-police chief Alan Nesbitt, travel to the Orkney Islands for a holiday, but almost as soon as they arrive they find themselves in the midst of an unpleasant argument. There are Neolithic sites scattered throughout the islands and the archeological dig at one of them is being financed by an extremely wealthy, extremely arrogant American who insists on interfering with the work of the professionals in order to uncover spectacular treasures that he believes are show more to be found. When that individual turns up dead at the excavation site, ostensibly due to an accident but very quickly seen to be murder, there is no dearth of possible suspects, given how deeply he has offended the locals. But with a terrorism scare occurring at around the same time, the local police have no time to investigate and it is therefore up to Dorothy and Alan to search out the clues…. I enjoy this cozy series, although it is not of the highest caliber, because I like Dorothy and her relationships to others and because most of the books take place in different parts of the British Isles, turning each book into a bit of a travelogue in addition to being a mystery. I usually figure out the solution to the crime well before Dorothy does, but I don’t mind that - if you do, probably these books are not for you. A pleasant diversion, basically; mildly recommended. show less

This was a very well-written book about a genre-savvy older woman amateur detective. Rich and realistic characters, discussions between Dorothy and Chief Constable Alan that referenced Miss Marple, Mrs Pollifax, and Inspector Lestrade among others (Alan is just as genre-savvy, though from a rather different viewpoint as a professional cop). The murder is unexpected and tangles Dorothy accidentally (she finds the body); for various reasons, worked out in solid logic though perhaps not wisdom, show more she continues poking at the questions. And finally, after multiple other disasters, she has a revelation and puts it all together. Two problems, for me - one, the question she didn't ask at the time (that solidified the revelation, eventually) is what I would have asked instantly in any similar circumstance (and then she doesn't mention the matter to Alan, though she does to a few others). And two, I was utterly not in the mood for this - I did mention realistic, right? She's a recent widow who moved to England (from Indiana) as she and her husband had been planning to do. So she's still mourning, feeling very uprooted and disconnected from her current social setting, and unsurprisingly quite depressed. While she works through it (makes good steps, anyway), this is not what I wanted to read about right now. I think I'll keep this series in mind for some later time - it is very good, if I were up to it. There's also a few problems with the e-book process in my copy - some obvious scannos (Iie for he, for instance), which would have been caught if they'd done a spell-check. And a missing floor plan of the church - a long endnote explaining the layout of the cathedral, with a footnote in that saying that italicized words would be found on the floorplan, but no image. Minor, but annoying. show less

When he was a young police officer in Cornwall just starting his career, Alan Nesbitt came across a dead woman in a coastal cave; the autopsy revealed a large dose of LSD in her system and, it being 1968, it was assumed that she took the drug and then, either in a fit of despondency or because the drug made her think she could fly, jumped off the cliff, ending up in the cave. No one has ever identified the woman, but 30 years later now-retired Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt is still haunted by show more the death, which he continues to believe is suspicious. His wife of two years, ex-pat American Dorothy Martin, wants to visit Cornwall both to get away from the endless rain in Sherebury and to possibly lay Alan’s concerns to rest. They meet a mother and daughter in their Penzance hotel, the older woman clearly dying; when the younger woman ends up in the self-same cave, also dead, Dorothy and Alan cannot resist investigating, with the unofficial blessing of the local constabulary…. This is the 7th book in this light cozy series, which features busy-body Dorothy transplanted to England as a Miss Marple type personality, with less character; I enjoy reading the series, but it is by no means a prime example of this genre. I pinpointed the culprit early on, and more or less determined the motives as well, but I had fun remembering my ancestral home of Cornwall through the eyes of these characters. I don’t think you need to have read earlier books in the series to enjoy this one; mildly recommended. show less

Alan’s honorary great-niece Lucy is visiting Sherebury from Chicago to deliver a series of lectures about fundraising, and Dorothy is happy to make her acquaintance too. Lucy is also in love, but when her fiance is struck and killed by a speeding vehicle in London while making a surprise visit to see her, Alan and Dorothy begin to have second thoughts about his character, whether his death is an accident and who might have wanted to kill him….This is the 25th and so far last of the show more Dorothy Martin cozy series, which has carried readers all throughout the UK in some delightful and some dreary books; I mostly just read this for the sake of completeness. That said, it’s a reasonably good finale for Dorothy and Alan, along with their cats and faithful dog, plus the new addition of a very determined little kitten. Why the couple makes the decision they do at the very end is beyond me, though, given that Alan has kids and grandkids, and Dorothy has nieces and nephews, but perhaps Ms. Dams is setting things up for a new series with a character introduced here. In any event, a mild recommendation for this one. show less