Published by Allison and Busby, 18 September 2014.
ISBN: 978-0-7490-1608-5
It was with great delight that I opened Crooked Herring and
turned to Chapter one, but, no. Wait. There was a prologue. Personally, I have never taken to prologues,
and I approached it with suspicion, but in this instance I can say that it
certainly made an impact, and intrigued, I eagerly read on.
When
Ethelred Tressider is informed by a fellow crime writer that he thought that he
feared that he might have murdered someone on New Year’s Eve, Ethelred is not unsurprisingly - sceptical. Ethelred
feels that a real murderer would be able to keep track of these things.
However, Henry Holiday, for it is he that is in the quandary, begs Ethelred to
use his powers of investigation to ascertain just what did happen on New Year’s
Eve, as he, Henry having consumed copious amounts of alcohol cannot actually
recall what happened. He just has some foggy notion that he murdered Crispin
Vynall,- yes ,yet another crime writer!
Ethelred
embarks reluctantly on this dubious mission, if not exactly accompanied, but
certainly directed by, his agent Elsie Thirkettle, by numerous phone calls and
the odd lunch for which Ethelred pays.
But the more he investigates the murkier it gets. Meanwhile, Elsie has done some investigating
of her own and made some interesting deductions. But will they help or hinder
Ethelred.
Needless
to say Ethelred ends up well and truly in the soup. Elsie’s attempts to extract him from his
predicament are clumsy, inventive and convoluted, and for the most part covered
in chocolate. But she does get some
satisfying revenge along the way.
This
is a marvellous book. The dialogue is sparkling, witty and enormous fun. I laughed so much I had to stop reading for a
while. The mystery is solved and the
ends are tied up satisfactorily but with a jaw-dropping surprise. Most highly
recommended.
------
Reviewer: Lizzie Hayes
L. C. Tyler was raised in Essex and studied geography at Jesus
College Oxford University before going on to study systems analysis at City
University in London. He worked for the Bristish Council in Mayaysia, Sudan,
Thailand and Denmark, before becoming Chief Executive of the Royal College of
Pardiatrics and Child Health, then a full-time writer. Tyler's 2007 novel The
Herring Seller's Apprentice was nominated for an Edgar Award for "Best
Paperback Original".
http://www.lctyler.com/
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