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Rating: 
Summary: A Mystery for English mystery lovers
Review: Cozies tend to have a limited cast and a modest local. In that sense, this first novel in the DCI Barnaby series certainly qualifies. Badger's Drift is a collection of buildings (village would be generous) at a T intersection. Virtually every resident is a suspect and they're a nicely mixed lot. Cozy heroes (and heroines) tend to have warm and fuzzy aspects - Barnaby has a wife he adores despite her utter inability to cook and loves to putz around in his garden.What cozies don't contain, as a rule, are multiple murders, reformed and current prostitutes and illicit relationships that are, shall I say, more than adultry. I really enjoyed the mixed tone of the book, even after I realized I'd seen the screen version on TV a few years ago. Graham does a nice job of taking many classical mystery elements and giving them a new spin. I'll admit that, knowing the ending, I was looking extra hard for the clues that would lead to the resolution. There weren't many but there were a few. It's also worth noting that this book won a McCavity for best first novel and was selected by the Independent Mystery Booksellers as one of their top 100 mysteries of the 20th Century. Bottom-line: A nice series for those who like British mysteries but want a little less rough stuff than Daziel & Pascoe or Frost.
Rating:
Summary: Cozy meets police procedural
Review: Cozies tend to have a limited cast and a modest local. In that sense, this first novel in the DCI Barnaby series certainly qualifies. Badger's Drift is a collection of buildings (village would be generous) at a T intersection. Virtually every resident is a suspect and they're a nicely mixed lot. Cozy heroes (and heroines) tend to have warm and fuzzy aspects - Barnaby has a wife he adores despite her utter inability to cook and loves to putz around in his garden. What cozies don't contain, as a rule, are multiple murders, reformed and current prostitutes and illicit relationships that are, shall I say, more than adultry. I really enjoyed the mixed tone of the book, even after I realized I'd seen the screen version on TV a few years ago. Graham does a nice job of taking many classical mystery elements and giving them a new spin. I'll admit that, knowing the ending, I was looking extra hard for the clues that would lead to the resolution. There weren't many but there were a few. It's also worth noting that this book won a McCavity for best first novel and was selected by the Independent Mystery Booksellers as one of their top 100 mysteries of the 20th Century. Bottom-line: A nice series for those who like British mysteries but want a little less rough stuff than Daziel & Pascoe or Frost.
Rating:
Summary: Promising Series
Review: I am a great fan of British "cosies". I was excited to think I had found a new author since I've read Madames Christie and Sayers. Caroline Graham's plot are a lot different - more modern with modern problems and criminals. There is also more death, but she writes a terrific story. Read this series. This is the first in the series of DCI Barnaby. He's enough of a curmudgeon to make this interesting, but there are certainly a lot more killings in this book than in most "cosies". The plot is good and it keeps you guessing. I look forward to reading more. Barnaby gets started with one murder of an elderly teacher, but before the story is done there are other murders to contend with and the motive for the crimes, when it's discovered, will blow you away!
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