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A review by travelsalongmybookshelf
Dear Little Corpses by Nicola Upson
5.0
‘There’s something very levelling about Village life, isn’t there?’
I’m back in the 30’s and the eve of war with Josephine Tey. She is at her cottage in Polstead, Suffolk and the war machine is gearing up ready with a horde of evacuees descending. Even Josephine and Marta cannot refuse to help.
I love all the little historical snippets in these novels, in this one Tey references her cottage to ‘The Red Barn Murder’ , an infamous murder from the 1700’s.
Margery Allingham also features in this mystery and is wonderfully written. The characterisations are fabulous, I really fully expect some of these people to step out of the pages of the book and into my living room! There are idyllic country Village scenes, a church fete, cake judging and fancy dress competitions but beneath this something darker is lurking. The story is told from different viewpoints initially and trying to link everything together in my mind was difficult but the author draws you in and very cleverly untangles these threads for the ‘oh’ moment.
‘You never know what’s going on behind a front door once it’s closed.’
When a village girl goes missing, you can feel the tension and heartbreak in the writing. There are plenty of secrets here and people start to look at themselves. This book is atmospheric and quite poignant with the declaration of war and restrictions imposed it felt similar to our lockdowns in a small way. As the hunt for the missing child intensifies, things become much darker and when the horrifying truth is revealed it was shocking and unexpected.
This is such a wonderful series of books, I haven’t read them all yet so I’m glad I can spend more time sleuthing with Josephine Tey.
✩✩✩✩✰
I’m back in the 30’s and the eve of war with Josephine Tey. She is at her cottage in Polstead, Suffolk and the war machine is gearing up ready with a horde of evacuees descending. Even Josephine and Marta cannot refuse to help.
I love all the little historical snippets in these novels, in this one Tey references her cottage to ‘The Red Barn Murder’ , an infamous murder from the 1700’s.
Margery Allingham also features in this mystery and is wonderfully written. The characterisations are fabulous, I really fully expect some of these people to step out of the pages of the book and into my living room! There are idyllic country Village scenes, a church fete, cake judging and fancy dress competitions but beneath this something darker is lurking. The story is told from different viewpoints initially and trying to link everything together in my mind was difficult but the author draws you in and very cleverly untangles these threads for the ‘oh’ moment.
‘You never know what’s going on behind a front door once it’s closed.’
When a village girl goes missing, you can feel the tension and heartbreak in the writing. There are plenty of secrets here and people start to look at themselves. This book is atmospheric and quite poignant with the declaration of war and restrictions imposed it felt similar to our lockdowns in a small way. As the hunt for the missing child intensifies, things become much darker and when the horrifying truth is revealed it was shocking and unexpected.
This is such a wonderful series of books, I haven’t read them all yet so I’m glad I can spend more time sleuthing with Josephine Tey.
✩✩✩✩✰