Flowers for His Funeral

I feel that this must be a five star book because, it does exactly what one would ask of a crime thriller. It kept me guessing until the final pages, had me then saying, "Ah, yes! I should have spotted that clue!) and has me keen to unearth more of what I find is a lengthy list of 'Mitchell and Markby' whodunnits.

The characters are believable and differentiated: each having their own recognisable traits and retaining them throughout the story. The plot is highly dubious but then, one does not read crime fiction for realistic plot and, accepting the twisted motivation, it does hang together by some curious logic.

I shall not spoil it for anyone reading this by giving away the story, or fixing it in my brain by typing it out; that way, in show more a few years, I may read it again and just be a little wiser in picking up the clues. show less

Ms. Granger is one of the best English country village writers out there. Her books do not have cyncial characters in them like so many in this genre do. The stories are intelligent and the mysteries are tricky. And Markby and Mitchell are a unique crime fighting duo. One is a cop and one works for the British foreign service. Meredith and Alan do not get to work on the same puzzle very often even though their paths seem to cross at a lot of murders, but in this one Meredith is doing some investigative work for her office and Alan is a visiting copper when a murder occurs at the famous Chelsea flower show. I love the light humour and the eccentric village characters that each book brings. I am really enjoying this entertaining series.

9 CDs with approx 10 hours, read by Judith Boyd. This #7 in the Mitchell & Markby series (now there are 15, last in 2004). Meredith Mitchell and Alan Markby visit the Chelsea Flower Show where Meredith meets up with and old school friend (with husband in tow). The old school friend turns out to be Alan Markby's ex-wife. Just after Markby has taken a photo of Meredith and Rachel, the ex-wife, the husband Alex collapses, and then dies. A bit predictably they become involved in the investigation into the death, and soon there is another, and another. Having vague memories of the plot of a later book from the series didn't help. I kept thinking that if I wasn't listening to this on the CD player in short 20 minute gobbets as I drove to and show more from work, if indeed I was reading the book, then I may very well have skimmed through.
Judith Boyd's reading was OK although a bit limp/placid in places. Meredeith Mitchell drove me nuts with her inability to do as she was told. It was a story where the reader really had little chance of solving the whydunnit part. I had worked out the whodunnit pretty early on, although some red herrings made me think twice. But the last hour was spent in revealing the why, and this is never a good ploy. There were few clues about why during the other 9 hours - or none that I picked up.
Nevertheless, not a bad read, and one that some will rate more highly than I did. show less

To Meredith Mitchell's slightly jaundiced eye, the penultimate day of the Chelsea Flower Show bears comparison to the battle of Waterloo, its war-weary veterans struggling on to the bitter end. But even her anxiety to encounter something other than yet another rose bush couldn't explain why she picked her old schoolfriend Rachel Hunter out of the crowd with such enthusiasm - they had never in fact been that close, and Meredith quickly realizes that she and the well-heeled, effortlessly self-confident blonde have even less in common now than they did as teenagers. Apart from one thing: Meredith's companion, Chief Inspector Markby. To the embarrassment of all concerned - except of course the self-possessed Rachel - Meredith's old show more schoolfriend turns out to be Markby's former wife, from whom he was divorced years before in less-than-friendly circumstances. The meeting with Rachel is not the only surprise the trip has in store for Markby. Before the afternoon is over, he has a death on his hands, a death that is soon proved to be far from accidental. Both he and Meredith find themselves drawn into the plush, apparently well-run world Rachel and her second husband Alex Constantine have created in their Cotswold home, Malefis Abbey, a world that Markby becomes convinced harbors a highly skilled murderer. show less

Mitchell & Markby 7