Amateur Sleuth
Review by Yvonne Selander
Main Character: Daphne Du Maurier
Setting: 1928 in Cornwall, England
Point of view: First person
Taste of the Plot: Where did Daphne Du Maurier get her inspiration for the classic tale Rebecca? From becoming involved in a murder investigation! When Daphne comes across the body of a woman at the bottom of a cliff she finds herself in the center of a scandal. Did the bride-to-be commit suicide? Or was she pushed? There are a number of people who would want the young woman dead, but did any of them commit murder?
Style/Pacing: Methodical with a building sense of unease because you just know that one of the people our heroine is sitting next to is a murderer!
Main Character: Daphne Du Maurier. While it can sometimes be annoying to have a real person solving unreal crimes it worked here.
Language/ writing: Flowery yet clear. The author imitates the writing style of the period.
Emotional impact/ Degree of Violence: More uneasiness than terror. A woman’s body is found by our heroine at the bottom of a cliff, but the scene is not graphic.
Humor: Once the undercover Scotland Yard agent comes clean the witty banter between him and Daphne threatens to steal the show.
Sex/vulgarity: You didn’t talk of such things. But you alluded to them over tea with great alacrity…
Issue Driven: It’s the ages old story. Money and poverty don’t mix.
Other notes: You will want to re-read Rebecca, or at least see the movie, after reading this book.
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