I loved the Edgar-Award-listed Herring Seller's Apprentice and it's time I caught up with this series.
Synopsis: "When literary agent Elsie Thirkettle is invited to accompany tall but obscure crime-writer Ethelred Tressider to dinner at Muntham Court, she is looking forward to sneering at his posh friends. What she is not expecting is that, half way through the evening, her host will be found strangled in his locked study. Since there is no way that a murderer could have escaped, the police conclude that Sir Robert Muntham has killed himself. A distraught Lady Muntham, however, asks Ethelred to conduct his own investigation. Ethelred (ably hindered by Elsie) sets out to resolve a classic 'locked room' mystery; but is any one of the assorted guests and witnesses actually telling the truth? And can Ethelred's account be trusted? In the process, we meet one of Ethelred's own creations, the fourteenth-century detective Master Thomas, who is helped in his investigations of a mediaeval crime at Muntham Court by a small and rather pushy Abbess with a taste for honey cakes ...Is it possible that Master Thomas can shed some light on the twenty-first century case, and on Ethelred's own motives for investigating Sir Robert's death? "The Herring in the Library" is another ingenious outing for crime fiction's most mismatched double-act."It's no coincidence that the covers have some resemblance in style to fellow-Last Laugh nominee Malcolm Pryce's Aberystwyth Noir series:
6 comments:
Karen - Thanks for this : ). It sounds terrific! I haven't started this series yet, but you've whetted my appetite...
Karen - many thanks for this post. As you say, my covers are a bit like Malcolm's. We do in fact have the same illustator - the excellent Mark Thomas. I really like his design for The Herring in the Library anyway.
Yes, the one I'm working on is currently called Herring on the Nile - though the final decision on these things is always subject to the views of your publisher! At some point I want to write one called "The Herring in the Smoke" - all I need now is the plot for it ....
Funnily enough, I just sent my copy of the first Aberyswyth book to Dorte as I thought she might like it.
This book looks great - I haven't actually managed to get hold of a copy of book 2 yet, but having enjoyed book 1 so much I must repair the damage immediately!
Karen, I had noted the resemblance between Len Tyler's and Malcolm Pryce's covers, and I realized the two authors are vaguely similar. Each writes humorous mysteries with melancholy undertones.
Len, would you consider a novel in which Ethelred awakes from a drunken stupor or slumber and finds himself in trouble? You cuold call it Pickled Herring-Seller.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Peter - I like Malcolm Pryce's books, and so am very happy with the comparison. Pickled Herring Seller has a good Scandinavian ring to it ...
Scandinavian? Nah, that'll never sell.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
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