1997 mystery, ninth of Granger's novels of Chief Inspector Alan
Markby and non-detective Meredith Mitchell. Meredith's old friend
Sally, and her prickly scientist husband, have come to live in a
nearby village, and he's promptly set everyone's backs up. But a
letter bomb seems a bit of an extreme response…
It is, I know, unreasonable of me to demand that mysteries both
challenge my mystery-solving mind and satisfy my emotional and
plot-enjoying mind, when neither of these is likely to be operating at
the same level as any given other reader's and the chances of them
both lining up with the majority taste is almost non-existent. This
book did the emotion and plot jolly well, but I found the identity of
the bomber very immediately obvious, and the failure of Markby even to
consider one particular possibility did end up making him look stupid.
Apart from that, there's the usual background radiation of
unconsidered conservatism (battery chickens are a bad thing but free
range is more expensive, and those protesters are weird and silly;
foreigners are probably Up to Something; people should know their
place and not object to the police poking at their lives) which, while
I accept that it's very common in mysteries and especially "cosy"
mysteries that involve amateurs, can get a bit wearing not because
it's objectionable in itself but because it feels so obviously
unconsidered, a default comfortable position arrived at by upbringing
and what all your friends say rather than the product of mature
consideration. (And, bizarrely, the same author managed to get away
from it somewhat in her Fran Varady series, the first of which came
out in the same year as this.)
What of this specific story, though? One definite murder, several
unsuccessful attempts, some enjoyable background detail which may or
may not be relevant, and a very sudden shift from plodding
investigation into wrapping things up. But all in all I like reading
about Granger's people, and that always leaves me feeling more
encouraged and able to ignore other shortcomings than I otherwise
might be.