Peril in the Parish
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Secrets, mystery and wedding bells at Dovecote Hatch!
1933, Dovecote Hatch, England. Florence Norris knows she has found a good man in George ‘Birdie’ Bird, the landlord of the local pub, The Dog & Whistle. They are set to marry in the parish church of their beloved village of Dovecote Hatch. But when a mysterious stranger seeks out George, sharing family secrets and talks of an illegal burial years ago, an ominous dread falls over the happy couple.
Meanwhile, Agnes Younger, a local recluse whose health is ailing, calls upon her cousin Sophie Dawson to come home. Sophie is relieved to be escaping a scandal, not of her making, but is soon in the thick of something far more dramatic! There may just be a link between Agnes's imminent demise and the poor soul who was buried illegally.
As Florence and George are pulled reluctantly into this mystery, they uncover unpleasant truths and dark entanglements in this idyllic English village. Not everyone is as they seem . . . Will Florence and George have the beautiful church wedding they long for, or will the truth stand in the way of their well-deserved happily ever after?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in 1933 in the English village of Dovecote Hatch, Cannell's leisurely third Florence Norris mystery (after 2015's Death at Dovecote Hatch) finds kind and canny Florence, the housekeeper at Mullings, the great house of the district, preparing for her wedding to genial George Bird, proprietor of the village pub, the Dog and Whistle. One evening, a stranger walks into the nearly empty pub and announces, "Twenty years ago today I buried my sister." He goes on to hint at the circumstances of his 17-year-old sister's illegal burial when he was 13 and asks George to pass on to Inspector LeCrane a batch of anonymous threatening letters his sister received shortly before she died. The stranger wants the inspector to "hunt down the writer of those letters and bring him or her to justice." After George consults with Florence, they know what they need to do in response to the man's request. Other deaths ensue, but the focus is on the relationships among the nicely portrayed residents of Dovecote Hatch, both pleasant and unpleasant. The villagers' romantic triumphs and losses tend to overshadow the efforts to unravel the puzzles surrounding the various deaths, including a suicide. Fans of traditional British mysteries will find much to like.
