jjares reviewed on 8/4/2023 + 3275 more book reviews

This mystery takes place in England in 1955. I tried thinking about life in America when I was less than ten. I remember that people rode the bus more than today, and neighbors were much more communicative. People only had a little money, and few goods were available. I remember my grandfather sold the family car, and the family was horrified. He reasoned that it was one of the few ways to get cash because cars were in demand but not available in large numbers (it was after WW II).

I'm waxing nostalgic because I'm trying to show that the author got the time (and life situations) right in this book. People walked everywhere or rode a bus. The author points out that the successful writer Jack Carrington wore clothes left over from his ration tickets for WW II. That was a nice touch. WW II crippled England, and life took a long time to recover.

The story is an engaging mystery about a dead Australian man who had just become twenty-one during a visit to Abbeymead, England. Worse than that, he was found in Flora Steele's bookshop after breaking in through a back window. There are lots of interesting red herrings. Jack Carrington, a crime writer, assists Flora in her adventures. This was so compelling that I had difficulty putting it aside (to get work done). Overall = 4.5 stars.

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