The Mortal Sickness

Having enjoyed the first book in the series, more for the characters and the language than the plot, I decided to go straight on to this second book in the Lydmouth Crime Series. It was another quick read, but perhaps not as engaging as the first book. One of the reasons was that there were many more POVs in this story, some of which were of relatively minor characters. This authorial choice allowed the author to tell the story with a ‘wider’ lens, showing things that they would not otherwise have been able to, but I feel this was not playing to the greatest strength of the first book – the compelling two main characters, DI Thornton and reporter Jill Francis. In fact, Jill Francis seems to be sidelined for large chunks of this show more book, which was a bit disappointing (though narratively it makes sense). I’ll still be reading the next installment in the series, as these complaints are relatively minor and overall this was still an enjoyable read. show less

This is an early work of Andrew Taylor, published in 1995 and following his first book in the Lydmouth series, "An Air that Kills". It is a classic English mystery taking place in the myopic 1950's. A spinster is found bludgeoned to death in St John's Church and a precious chalice disappears. Jill Francis is a young reporter in Lydmounth who is drawn into the events. Suspicion falls on the local vicar but who is writing threatening letters to him and to other villagers with unpleasant secrets?
It is an excellent escapist read and highly recommended as are all of Mr Taylor's books. Check out his more recent book, "The American Boy" which is a sophisticated historical mystery and was quite popular in North America as well as Britain.