Janie Bolitho (1950–2002)

Killed in Cornwall, by Janie Bolitho, begins with Inspector Jack Pearce stymied by a series of small break-ins at houses in a variety of small villages in Cornwall; his workload ratchets up, however, when a young woman is assaulted and raped one evening. Both cases seem impossible to solve, but that's counting out the information, and insights, that Jack's on-again, off-again girlfriend, artist Rose Trevelyan, brings to bear. People just like to talk to Rose, and she is gifted with an show more intuition that helps her to understand far more than people tell her with words; add to that her keen powers of visual observation, and criminals best look to themselves. Now, if only Jack would listen to her; or, conversely, if only Rose would think to tell Jack some of the information she is given.... This is the second Rose Trevelyan novel that I've read, and I found it quite satisfying. Unlike with the first book, Buried in Cornwall, I was able to figure out who the culprits were before the end, but that didn't detract from the cosy nature of the writing, the evocative sense of place and people with which Bolitho graces her books, and the various side stories about different recurring characters; definitely a good read for a chilly winter's night! Recommended. show less

I bought this under the mistaken impression it was the first in the series. Anyway...

Rose hears a woman scream while she is out painting at the site of a former mill. She calls the police, but they can find nothing of concern. Then, a few days later, the former girlfriend of the man Rose is sort of dating goes missing.

I wanted to love this series - I love Cornwall. However, I found this novel slightly dated; I have described Jenny, the woman who goes missing, as Nick's girlfriend, but in the show more novel, she hopes to become his mistress, despite the fact neither are married. There is a lot of description/telling and far less dialogue/showing. I quite liked Rose, although the number of male admirers she seemed to attract was mystifying (but helpful to the plot).

I also found the plot very lacking in urgency or pace. The "whodunnit" is revealed at the end, in an encounter months after the event and was extremely underwhelming. Disappointing. show less

Artist Rose Trevelyan is saddened by the death of her elderly friend Dorothy, but when the coroner and the police agree that the death was either accidental or a suicide, she is certain that neither can be true, so she decides to investigate on her own. Her determination is complicated by the fact that she remains undecided about her erstwhile boyfriend, Detective Inspector Jack Pearce, who doesn’t appreciate her meddling, and by the fact that she is finally starting to get serious about show more her art. But whoever keeps making threatening phone calls to her doesn’t realize that this just makes her all the more determined to figure out what happened…. "Framed in Cornwall" is the second in the 7-book series by Janie Bolitho featuring Rose and her friends; Bolitho died in 2002. I’ve been reading them out of order, as I’ve found them, but that hasn’t been a problem in terms of following the story and the characters; however, having just finished the first book, I did appreciate being able to go straight into the second, with more understanding of the relationships involved. I especially like this series for its setting, as Cornwall is one of the most beautiful places on Earth, and I like that most of the characters are middle-aged or older, and that their relationships are complicated, just like in real life. Recommended! show less

Caught Out in Cornwall is the last of the Cornish series of mystery novels by Janie Bolitho, who unfortunately died in 2002, the year before this book was published. In it, artist Rose Trevelyan once again finds herself caught up in a crime, when she sees a young girl being picked up and taken from a beach by a man with whom the child seems familiar; moments later, a distraught young mother starts calling for her missing child. The mother is certain that her daughter has been taken by a show more stranger, and Detective Inspector Jack Pearce, Rose's sometime boyfriend, is soon on the case, organizing search parties and ferretting out information from the family, with the hope of finding the child quickly. But the more time passes, the less likely it is that little Beth will be found alive, and Rose feels a responsibility toward the frantic family; after all, if she'd recognized that there was something wrong in what she saw, the little girl might never have gone missing at all.... I've enjoyed this 3-book series, set in beautiful Cornwall, UK (where I lived as a child), and it's a shame that there are no more. Unfortunately, while the story is good and the characters well-drawn, there are a lot of little mistakes in this book that the publisher should have caught, but didn't. A lot of idiosyncratic punctuation that can be confusing, but also bits of uncorrected text here and there such as referring to a character by the wrong name, or one instance where Rose and Jack are dining out, food is brought to them but before they start to eat they finish a plot-point conversation, then the food is brought to them as for the first time. Such sloppy editing mars the novel, but overall this was a good, solid series, and the author will be missed. show less