A Restless Evil: A Mitchell and Markby Mystery

Rating:
Summary: wonderful village cozy
Review: Dr. Guy Morgan calls the Bamford police station to report he found human bones in the Cotswold Lower Stovey Woods. When Detective Superintendent Alan Markby on a house-hunting trip with his beloved Meredith Mitchell learns of the human remains, he thinks back to a haunting failure. As a rookie over two decades ago, he never caught The Potato Man, a serial rapist, who vanished, after his third rape.

Alan hopes that even after all this time has passed, a break has finally occurred. However, a new concern surfaces when another dead body is found, but this one is a recent corpse. As he digs deeper accompanied by his lover, the locals refuse to cooperate making their investigation that much harder and leaving the dedicated cop feeling déjà vu as he wonders if he will fail again.

The latest Mitchell and Markby novel is a delightful village mystery. The story line contains a strong who-done-it and an insightful look at a decaying hamlet especially the surly townsfolk and their detest of the new money brought in by outsiders. The two wonderful heroes augment the enjoyable plot, especially Alan's memories of that case that still disturbs him. Ann Granger provides her usual, a wonderful village cozy that is a treat for sub-genre fans.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: wonderful village cozy
Review: Dr. Guy Morgan calls the Bamford police station to report he found human bones in the Cotswold Lower Stovey Woods. When Detective Superintendent Alan Markby on a house-hunting trip with his beloved Meredith Mitchell learns of the human remains, he thinks back to a haunting failure. As a rookie over two decades ago, he never caught The Potato Man, a serial rapist, who vanished, after his third rape.

Alan hopes that even after all this time has passed, a break has finally occurred. However, a new concern surfaces when another dead body is found, but this one is a recent corpse. As he digs deeper accompanied by his lover, the locals refuse to cooperate making their investigation that much harder and leaving the dedicated cop feeling déjà vu as he wonders if he will fail again.

The latest Mitchell and Markby novel is a delightful village mystery. The story line contains a strong who-done-it and an insightful look at a decaying hamlet especially the surly townsfolk and their detest of the new money brought in by outsiders. The two wonderful heroes augment the enjoyable plot, especially Alan's memories of that case that still disturbs him. Ann Granger provides her usual, a wonderful village cozy that is a treat for sub-genre fans.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: About Meredith and Alan
Review: I used to love this series, but lately I find Meredith Mitchell, our commitment-phobic heroine, a little annoying. She calls herself independent, of course, and I'm all for the hard-to-get routine, but in her case it's getting a bit tedious. Alan Markby should really find someone else, or he'll turn into a complete wimp in the relationship area, always defensive and wondering. For quite some time now, I've wished for some serious competition for her, but in that I've been disappointed. OK, so now at long last she has agreed to marry him - in fact, she suggested it herself at the end of the last book - but somehow the fireworks are missing.
I realise this is not a romance story in the first place, but the Mitchell-Markby relationship does play an important part on the whole.
Also, in the first book - "Say it with poison" - which appeared in 1991 (I think), Meredith's age is given as 35, and now, in book 12, she is still only about 37 in the year 2000. Poetic licence? I checked all the books, and taking into account the seasons and other bits of information, she must be at least 39.
By the way: On page 10 of the paperback edition, it says: "... he heard a rumble of thunder. As he'd done when a child, Guy began to count in his head. One - two - three - four - The lightning burst across the sky ...". Perhaps it's different in Britain, but here on the Continent it's light before sound. :-)
On page 125 (still the paperback edition), an overbite is described as the lower jaw protruding further than the upper one - the exact opposite to what I thought from my experience and found in the Oxford dictionary. The author thanks some dentist for his help at the beginning of the book, which makes me wonder.
There are also quite a few spelling mistakes in this edition, which together with the inconsistencies mentioned above seem to indicate some rather negligent editing. Too bad!
Having said all this, I can still recommend this series to anyone who is interested in rural England and characters one can easily relate to. I'll certainly give the next volume a chance.

Rating:
Summary: Average Markby and Mitchell tale
Review: The good news is that Ann Granger has written a lot of very good crime novels; the bad news is that this is not among the best of them. Meredith and Markby are futilely house-hunting when they enter the creepy village near the even creepier woods where Alan's first big career case went unsolved two decades past.

There is nothing cozy about the English village of Lower Stovey, and it is beyond the limits of credulity to think that the author intended to write a "delightful" book set there. The natives are generally dim, sleazy, secretive, oversexed or demented, or some combination of all three; and except for them the place is pretty much deserted all week because most of the nicer houses have been purchased by weekending yuppies.

First, old bones turn up in the woods. Then a fresh body turns up in the church and a middle-aged woman who came to live in the village reluctantly, is left stewing about the dark secrets in her past.

At least this time the exhaustively "independent" Meredith doesn't get into the obligatory "female in jeopardy" scene quite as crudely as in some of the novels. And I believe I know where this loving couple are finally going to find a house.

It's hard to maintain a quality series over time, especially one with an amateur sleuth. This is a 3-star effort - not a wasted read, but not the best of the series. Though certainly not the worst.

(And at least Meredith isn't red-haired and feisty as well as obsessively independent and pigheaded. I'm so sick of red-haired feisty amateur sleuths that I won't read past that description in a novel before putting it back on the shelf.)

Rating:
Summary: Another excellent book
Review: The standard of her Mitchell and Markby books remains so consistently high that it surprises me. Each book has been interesting, enjoyable, well-written, with a good plot, and very different to preceeding books. This time around, human bones are found in Lower Stovey woods, and Alan Markby, charged with investigating the remains, considers the possibility that they may well have something to do with a serial rape case in the same area 22 years ago. A case which he investigated, and which he failed to solve. But then, he is brought smack bang into the present when an apparently motiveless killing of a local woman occurs in the village. And the detecting begins in earnest.

A really strong aspect of this series is the way that the relationship between Meredith and Alan has developed throughout it. It takes new turns with each book. It is what often makes the series stand out against second-rate claimants to the Queen of the Village crime novel (as Ann Granger surely is) Watching how it develops is really enjoyable, and it amazes me that AG is still able to keep it interesting after 14 books.

The plot is good, although the only flaw this book has it perhaps that there are not really enough viable suspects to allow us to guess, or the end to come as a shock. However, this is still a cracking book (i can only liken reading an Ann Granger book to reading an episode of Midsomer Murders) very exciting and interesting. It throws up questions, even in its blinkered spectrum of society, questions about people, the world we live in, religion (and its future) and so many other issues.

There is a strong cast of backing characters (one of her strongest yet) who are interesting and carry the plot along well. The writing is first-class, and Ann Granger's world tangs with reality.

This is a near-perfect example of everything a good classic english detective novel should be. If this is your thing, definitely comes highly reccomended.

Rating:
Summary: one of the best "cozy"/police procedurals I've read all year
Review: This is, I think, one of the better Alan Markby & Meredith Mitchell murder mysteries.

Detective Superintendent Alan Markby and his fiancee, Meredith Mitchell, are house hunting at Lower Stovey, when news of a grisly discovery at Stovey Woods filters through. Apparently a hiker had stumbled over some human bones. For Alan Markby however, the find and the woods bring to mind a case that he considers one of his more spectacular failures -- the case of a serial rapist, known as the Potato Man, who operated at Stovey Woods about 20 years ago, and who was never caught. Could the bones be the remains of the Potato Man? And was the reason why he suddenly stopped assaulting women be because he was killed all those years ago? These are the questions Markby that haunt Markby as he begins the investigation into discovering whose bones these could be. And then a church warden is found murdered in the church at Lower Stovey. And even as Markby initiates the investigation into this murder, he cannot help but wander if this new murder is connected in any way to the rapes at Stovey Woods all those years ago? Or if the two cases are totally unconnected? Unfortunately for Markby and his team, the villagers have their own fair share of secrets that they'd rather never saw the light of day, and they soon close ranks against the police. But Markby is determined that this time around (at least) he will get a result at Lower Stovey.

The previous reviewer hit nail on the head. This mystery novel was a completely enjoyable and engrossing read. And "A Restless Evil" turned out to be one of the best cozy/police procedurals that I've read all year. Ann Granger does a wonderfully job of skillfully guiding the reader through each new development, and each new development added a new dimension to this richly nuanced mystery novel, thus making this mystery in particular a truly brilliant read. The mystery unfolded smoothly and seamlessly, and Granger did a magnificent job of maintaining the level of tension throughout the book.

With the cooler and greyer weather, and shorter daylight hours, "A Restless Evil" is just the thing to curl up with one of these winter nights. Definitely a worthwhile read.