A locked room and an unresponsive guest in Dorothy Little’s, Tulip Cottage prompts Dorothy to ask her neighbours, Dr. Laurel Nightingale and Albert for help. Later the same day a famous crime author Hugh Quintrell, consults Laurel to help cure his writer’s block. However, the professional relationship he wants with Laurel is not as client and therapist but a collaborative one to solve the crime discovered at Tulip Cottage.
Elderwick, Laurel’s new home has seen a number of murders since her arrival from Somerset a few months earlier, prompting her thoughts that she may be the catalyst. Reluctantly at first together with her friends Albert and Maggie, she sets out to unravel this new mystery.
Elderwick is an ideal village with the Plump Tart Village Bakery, The Snooty Fox Pub and of course the centre of much of the cognitive action, The Pleasant Pheasant tea room. The pictures formed in the mind’s eye are something I particularly enjoyed.
With numerous twists and turns to keep me on my toes, I raced through the book very quickly. I found it an enjoyable read, more please Ms Gray.
I am interested in Crime fiction as both a reader and writer. When I saw the exhibition, Murder by the Book at Cambridge University Library advertised, I decided to visit. The guided bus from St Ives seemed the best option for travelling to Cambridge, it was just a question of timing my journey to be late enough to use my bus pass but early enough to arrive in time for the 11 am pre-booked slot.
My route on foot, from the Round Church bus stop, planned mainly courtesy of Google maps started in St, John’s Street, which led into Trinity street followed by a left turn into Trinity Lane. A little way along Trinity Lane a right turn took me into Garret Hostel Lane the lane narrowed as it approached the Garret Hostel Bridge over the river Cam, Trinity Hall’s Jerwick Library sits more or less on the bridge on the left. Punts were moving along the river tour guides working the poles as they pointed out places of interest on the banks, to their passengers.
Guided punt tours.
The bridge heralded a change the walk was no longer flanked by buildings but after the bridge the lane was tree lined.
Garret Hostel Lane after the bridge
At the end of Garret Hostel Lane, the route took me across Queen’s Road into Burrell’s Walk. Before long I was at the gateway gazing at the imposing University Library Building and facing it to my left was Clare College.
It is difficult to show the size of the library building, if I remember correctly this tower houses the crime fiction collection. If that is the case, somewhere within lurks Arnold Lane, Marvin and of course Sylvia.
The entrance to the library
Once I was through the imposing entrance I made my way to the exhibition. The first thing I noted was a quote by PD James, one of many of hers within the collection.
P.D. James telling it like it is
The exhibition started with a chronological history of crime fiction with copies of some of the very earliest works Wilkie Collins The Lady in White and an even earlier work whose title I didn’t note.
Unsurprisingly Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes books featured prominently in early British crime writing. Slightly later came Dorothy L Sayers and of course Agatha Christie. On display were several exhibits relating to Agatha Christie, her Dictaphone which came into use when she broke her arm and her portable typewriter. However, the items relating to Agatha Christie which held most interest for me were her notebooks, a separate one for each book it seemed. That is one idea I might borrow.
Agatha Christie’s dictaphone.
I took a leisurely stroll around part 1 of the exhibition, many of the authors were familiar to me PD James, Dorothy L Sayers, Sir Athur Conan Doyle and of course, Agatha Christie but there were others unknown to me including, Martin Blake, Ellen Wilkinson, Cyril Hare, Nicholas Blake and Celia Fremlin.
Another P.D. James quote and totally accurate.
Further along were some more contemporary authors H R Keating, Ian Rankin, Ruth Rendell, Lynda La Plante and Marjory Allingham. I looked for books by Raymond Chandler but didn’t see any of his displayed, although he was based, as was his writing in America, he was an Englishman.
More contemporary crime fiction.
Having completed the circuit of part 1, I stowed my bag in the locker room and made my way upstairs to the gallery and the other parts of the exhibition to find books by authors I had met. For me, Alison Bruce’s D C Gary Goodhew, could well fit the bill as Cambridge’s iconic detective, a possible answer to Oxford’s Morse but he wasn’t elevated to this position by the powers that be. However Cambridge Blue had a well deserved prominent position as did books by Sophie Hannah and Ellie Griffiths two other authors I have had the pleasure of meeting.
On the first floor part 2 of the exhibition.
When I had seen all the exhibits I sought refreshment in the café situated on the first floor at the end of the gallery. The mistake I made was not bringing my tablet computer in with me in a clear bag I like the quiet of libraries to write in and with generous-sized desks or even in the café, this quiet place would have been ideal. However, on this occasion as I hadn’t used the clear bag for my laptop it would have to be the Central Library.
An ideal place to write.
This picture of just one of many corridors leading off in different directions and on several floors gives a glimpse of the size of the building.
I retraced my steps to Trinity Street and then made my way through the city to the Central Library, on my way along Kings Parade I came across students, well graduates now, in white trimmed black gowns together with their families emerging from a graduation ceremony. It was I am sure a proud moment for all those concerned.
A graduation, one of many in Cambridge during the summer a moment of pride for all concerned.
All in all, after a short stint of writing at the Central Library and the return trip on the guided bus, it was a great day out.
Although over the years I have watched several episodes of Morse on TV, this is the first of Colin Dexter’s books, (Morse’s creator), I have actually read. This crime story was adapted for TV but with a different title The Secret of Bay 5 B and from my memory it varies quite a bit from the book (note to self re-watch the Secret of Bay 5B then compare and contrast).
For a start I found Dexter’s style a little tricky but once I had found the rhythm of his writing it was an easier read. Having seen the Morse programmes on television and John Thaw’s portrayal as the man himself the picture of Morse in our minds is John Thaw’s portrayal, as is Kevin Whately’s, Lewis. If I had read the books first the TV Morse might be an intruder but there isn’t enough of a description of the man evident in the book to contradict John Thaw.
The story is convoluted and a real puzzle, the action centres on a Fancy Dress New Year’s Party in the Haworth Hotel. The disguises worn by the guest’s in the form of their costumes complicates identification and the rapid departure of guests after the event and false identities are other obstacles thrown in the path of Morse and Lewis’s investigation.
It was a good read and an interesting one. I will seek out more of Dexter’s books to read and review.
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