Murder in Little Shendon

This past weekend, between kid sports and Halloween prep and the rest of life, I finally finished Murder in Little Shendon, a delightful mystery, written by A.H. Richardson, that I’ve been carrying in my purse for two weeks.

book cover

Yes, it took a little longer than I hoped it would, but seriously – have you ever had to plan for not just one Halloween costume but three (because your first idea was going to be super popular and you were not going to wear the same thing as the rest of the neighborhood, and your second idea failed because your “craft skills” are really not as good as they seemed in your head when you planned things, so then you rush trying to come up with an easy third idea), and that’s just the adult costumes! Not to mention the day job, the afternoon job of child-chauffeur and caretaker, the husband who was relaxing on an 8-day golf trip . . . life happened. The irony of it is that my husband and I couldn’t even go to our neighborhood Halloween party because our babysitter cancelled on us with 5 hours to spare (and she only cancelled because I called to see when I could pick her up, it’s not like she called us proactively). Sigh.

So – happy Halloween everybody!

Back to the book. Little Shendon is the quintessential small town in British countryside: everyone knows everyone, whether you want to or not. When a not-well-liked resident is murdered in rather brutal fashion, everyone becomes a suspect. Inspector Burgess, the sharp detective on the small, local police force, calls in a friend, Sir Victor, who has worked investigations before and has family in Little Shendon, to come from London and assist in the murder investigation. Sir Victor brings his friend, Berry, who is an actor with a well-respected detective for a father and a flair for reading people. Together, the three of them will work together to uncover the truth to the mystery in their little town.

I mean, really, without giving anything away, that’s all I want to say. Have you ever read any of Agatha Christie’s Poirot mysteries? I’ve been thinking of those lately, mostly because “Murder on the Orient Express” is about to hit theaters and I have high expectations for it. But, if you’ve read any of Dame Christie’s mystery books, you know the sort of book I’m talking about: a huge cast of characters, all with secrets and all of them with chance and opportunity and motive, and a Detective who misses nothing and solves crimes by both reading people’s reactions and examining the evidence.

To me, this book was very similar. Inspector Burgess even fidgets with his moustache (much like Poirot, if you read those books). Together, Burgess and Sir Vincent and Berry are not quite as “bumbling” or “odd” as maybe Poirot was, but the results are the same. In the end, they are able to piece together small bits of information, small bits of personal interactions, and a few bits of luck to cleverly explain to the townspeople who is behind the murder of the least-liked resident in their town.

Actually, if you’ve ever seen the “Thin Man” movie, the book was very much like the final dinner party in the movie.

THIN MAN, THE

Who else loved that Nick Charles could solve a case with few clues and martini in hand?

So. Was this an original idea? Original characters or concepts or innovative story ideas? No. As I’ve pointed out, it reminded me partly of an Agatha Christie story, and partly of the Thin Man movies, which have been around for decades.

But I LOVE the Agatha Christie books and I LOVE the Thin Man movies, so I very much enjoyed this novel. It hit all the expected nails on the head – enough so that maybe not everything was clearly laid out, but enough so that after I finished I could see how all the little clues had been laid out throughout the novel.

And you know what I also enjoyed? A lot of books will wrap up the primary story line, which is fine and necessary for obvious reasons, but not many books will also take the time to wrap up the secondary story lines. I often find myself thinking, “how did that character react?” or “what happened to those characters next?” This book devotes the epilogue to answering all those questions. I really appreciated that; it almost never happens, so I am stupidly pleased when it does.

Also, as a bonus, it’s the first in a series! If you’re up for a good old-fashioned mystery, this is definitely worth a read.

Overall: 8/10

I received a copy of this book from the publicist in exchange for my honest review.

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