Viser opslag med etiketten Stuart Pawson. Vis alle opslag
Viser opslag med etiketten Stuart Pawson. Vis alle opslag

tirsdag den 3. august 2010

Stuart Pawson, The Mushroom Man (1995)

This novel is the second in the D.I. Charlie Priest series. I bought the book because I wanted to combine my taste for mysteries with my need to know more about Yorkshire.

The book opens when Father Tudor Harcourt pedals along in a very pensive mood. He is going to retire after fifty years in the service of the Roman Catholic Church, and now he considers proposing to dear Miss Felicity Jonas who ´does for him´ three days a week and has become a very close friend over the years.

But sadly we will never know if the Pope would have granted him this pleasure; Father Harcourt has an encounter with a self-centered, drink-driving sales manager on his way to Miss Jonas´ isolated cottage. (Very unfair, Stuart Pawson).

Next, someone burgles the home of Mr Dewhurt. Not very efficiently, it seems, but the same morning his eight-year-old daughter Georgina vanishes into thin air. Are the two events related, or is Mr Dewhurst just unusually unlucky? And are the Yorkshire priests and vicars just extremely accident-prone or is there some human hand behind the many sudden deaths?

Even though I didn´t learn much about Yorkshire which I didn´t know already, there are many things to like in this novel. D.I. Charlie Priest is a likeable protagonist and the plot is good. The tone is very humorous, but now and then a bit crude, and if crime against children is too much for you, don´t read this one.