Death in Disguise

While May Cuttle is regressing to a previous life, the head of the spiritual commune where she lives is knifed. Is it connected with the death a month or two earlier of another member of the commune who fell down the stairs and broke his neck? Barnaby and Troy investigate.

This one is my favourite in the series so far, with a manageable list of suspects whose motivation and back stories are more interesting than in the TV episode, which I watched afterwards.

A fantastic read. A bit satirical look at the religious community with as brilliant as usual in-depth analysis of the human nature. Sounds a bit serious but in fact it is a book that is difficult to put down. And, of course, Tom Barnaby and Gavin Troy in top form. Highly recommended!

A commune of mystics preaches and teaches love and understanding, but when their leader is murdered during a ritual, Inspector Barnaby and a very skeptic Sergeant Troy have to sort out who in the colorful group, if any, are who they say they are. Most of this book deals with the everyday life at the commune, mainly personal relations and the various religious rituals they perform. The mystery part is interesting, but it does seem a little like an afterthought (Barnaby and Troy don't even show until 1/3 of the story is done). Not uninteresting, the people at the commune – au contraire, it’s quite an intriguing cast – but if you’re after a regular mystery, it’s somewhat lacking in this installment of the series. When they are show more around, though, Barnaby is his usual, and entertainingly, gruff self and Troy his usual, and entertainingly, politically incorrect self. show less

DEATH IN DISGUISE: Inspector Barnaby #3 written by Caroline Graham.
The Lodge of the Golden Windhorse is a new-age commune/cult and a subject of gossip, ridicule and suspicions for the local village inhabitants. When murders occur on the grounds, Causton CID’s DCI Barnaby and Sergeant Gavin Troy are sent to investigate and solve the cases.
Author Caroline Graham is at her wittiest and most scathing in presenting the characters of this ‘closed community’.
A great read. ****

Set on a large estate that is run and occupied by a New Age religious group. Chief Inspector Barnaby and Sgt. Troy arrive when The Master, the head of the group, is murdered during a regression session. This book was very slow-moving for me, long and drawn out, with much detail about the lives of the members of the group, such that Inspector Barnaby doesn’t even make an entrance until a third through the book.

I liked the other two books in the series, but really found this one tedious and slow-going. I don’t know if it was just that I couldn’t get interested in any of the characters, but this was a real struggle for me.

This is the third in the Inspector Barnaby series and proved to be a disappointment. Nearly the first half of the book is spent setting the scene and describing the main characters. What also proved disappointing was the amount of Brit slang and New Age lingo that was, for me, mostly unintelligible.

#3 Inspector Barnaby English mystery. Set on a large estate that is run and occupied by a New Age religious group. Chief Inspector Barnaby and Sgt. Troy arrive when The Master, the head of the group, is murdered during a regression session. This book was very slow-moving for me, long and drawn out, with much detail about the lives of the members of the group, such that Inspector Barnaby doesn’t even make an entrance until page 133. I liked the other two books in the series, but really found this one tedious and slow-going. I don’t know if it was just that I couldn’t get interested in any of the characters or what, but to be honest by about page 200, I didn’t much care who killed whom and skimmed through to the end. I do intend show more to read on in the series—mostly because I’ve already got several of the next ones here, and based on the strength of the first couple of books. I guess every author is allowed to have one worm in the apple basket of their work. show less