Published by Allison and Busby,
19 July 2018.
ISBN: 978-0-7490-2288-4
19 July 2018.
ISBN: 978-0-7490-2288-4
The
book opens with a meeting of The Plot and Monument Committee of a Cambridge
College who are planning to buy a plot of land upon which they will erect a
monument to honour an erstwhile member, the late Sir Percival Biggs-Brookby.
This apparently simple task is complicated by college politics and by the
struggle for power between the committee, who wish to employ a competent and
inexpensive local sculptor, and Sir Percival’s daughter, Gloria, who intends to
force them to use a fashionable and much costlier sculptor from London.
Professor Cedric Dillworthy had loathed
Sir Percival, and, as his friend Felix Smythe so tactlessly points out, Cedric has
frequently referred to Sir Percival in disparaging terms, but that does not
prevent him from agreeing to become one of the benefactors contributing to the
memorial. After all the benefactors’ names will be on permanent display next to
the statue and Cedric longs to be immortalised in Cambridge; also, he needs
some triumph to counter Felix’s boastful attitude regarding the Royal Warrant
granted by the Queen Mother to his flower shop.
When Cedric is invited to Cambridge to
participate in the preparations for the monument, he invites Felix to accompany
him. Coincidentally, Rosie Gilchrist is also in Cambridge, attending a reunion
at Newnham College. Cedric, Felix and Rosie have already been involved in the
investigation of violent crime and it seems that they attract disaster. It is
not long before a storm of malevolent phone calls, blackmail and murder bursts
over Cambridge’s previously civilised colleges and the trio find themselves
embroiled in a series of uncomfortable, undignified and downright dangerous
situations.
The Cambridge Plot is
the fifth book in the series featuring Cedric Dillworthy and Felix Smythe. It
is beautifully written, clever, witty and delightfully absurd, with engaging
characters that it is impossible not to like, despite their flaws. An easy to
read book that is great fun.
------
Reviewer: Carol Westron
Suzette A. Hill was born in Eastbourne, Sussex, in 1941; but has lived
in many locations - the Midlands, Nottingham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Berkshire -
and finally in retirement in Ledbury, Herefordshire. Although being an English
graduate of two universities and having taught ‘Eng. Lit.’ all her professional
life, she never contemplated doing any creative writing herself. It was only
when she was sixty-four and well retired, that out of idle curiosity she
thought she might try her hand at a short story - just to see what writing
fiction felt like. And to her ongoing surprise A Load of Old Bones plus its four sequels was the result. A Little Murder (pub. Allison &
Busby) is the first in a new series featuring Rosie Gilchrist, and followed by The Venetian Venture & A
Southwold Mystery. The Primrose
Pursuit (2016), the first book to
feature Primrose Oughterard, is a link to the original ‘Bones’ series.
Carol Westron is a successful short story writer and a Creative
Writing teacher. She is the moderator
for the cosy/historical crime panel,
The Deadly Dames. Her crime novels are set both in contemporary and Victorian times. The Terminal Velocity of Cats the first in her Scene of Crimes novels, was published July 2013. Carol recently gave an interview to Mystery People. To read the interview click on the link below.
The Deadly Dames. Her crime novels are set both in contemporary and Victorian times. The Terminal Velocity of Cats the first in her Scene of Crimes novels, was published July 2013. Carol recently gave an interview to Mystery People. To read the interview click on the link below.
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