amateur detective | The Penkhull Press

A page-turning read from the start, this is a wonderful murder mystery set in a fascinating time. Bunch Courtney and her sister Dodo are engaging, interesting sleuths, as is Chief Inspector Wright, the enigmatic detective seconded from Scotland Yard for the duration. Jan Edwards’s characters are very real and you sense they’re full of hidden depths to be gradually revealed through the series. A satisfying mystery, puzzling and unpredictable with – like the times – an edgy sense of urgency and danger. The atmospheric setting is superb with the snow-bound Sussex Downs as central to the story as Morse’s Oxford. I love the way the author depicted a newly changed rural community with all its sense of loss and intrusion. The period detail is effortlessly done, absorbing the reader into Bunch’s world. A great treat.