Shades of Murder

I LOVE THE MITCHELL & MARKBY SERIES AND I "REALLY" HOPE THAT THERE WILL BE MORE AS MEREDITH AND MARKBY GET MARRIED (POSSIBLY START A MID-LIFE FAMILY). THIS WAS NOT MY FAVORITE OF THE SERIES BUT I CERTAINLY ENJOYED IT. MS GRANGER, KEEP WRITING THIS SERIES--PLEASE!!!!!!!!

Well, its the weakest of the series, to me. If meredith and markby do not get married and move in they are gonna find a way to blow it. And they seem to be the two most argumentative people in the world. Anyway, the story is a little thin, the mayhem a little restrained, only at the end does the spooky old house explode with the old ladies around. But its still a good cozy, nice pubs, nice setting, nice atmosphere. Even the bad London cops turn out to be not so bad. The hundred year flashbacks work pretty well, and she leaves a few dangling strings this time.

Ann Granger is simply superb. She is the mistress of the modern day mistress, and probably the closest thing we have to an accurate modernization of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple series. The writing is flawless, and the characters utterly brilliant. They are incredibly well drawn, with what seems little effort. They jump off the page, and are very realistic. She spins her plot effortlessly, and glides back and forward between the two time-frames completely effortlessly. The two crimes interconnect realisticly (not as they did in Mary Higgins's Clark's "On The Street Where You Live". A very good book, but the way the murders seperated by a hundred years were connected was completely far-fetched. This book is a much better example of how to do it.). The double-plots do lack...excitement, is probably the word. But they are nonetheless very interesting, as well as being bouyed up by her sprightly writing style. As always, the strength of this excellent series is found in it's two protagonists, Alan Markby and Meredith Mitchell. For over 10 books now, their relationship has been slowly developing. In fact, considering that theyve known each other for ten books is amazing, considering how far their relationship has actually gone. (Not all that far.) It's surprising that AG has got away with it for so long! But that is what adds freshness and an extra dimension of suspense to the story, the will they/wont they aspects of their developemental relationship. They are two brilliantly well drawn characters. Interesting. And the reader keeps reading, rooting all the while for them to finally get it together officially. And with this book, their relationship takes another small step forward, leaving the reader wonder just what might be in store for them in the near future...

This latest Meredith Mitchell & Alan Markby murder mystery proved to be a completely interesting and absorbing read for me. The thing I like about this series is that Ann Granger takes the old 'murder in a cosy village' motif, and expands on that so that it becomes something a lot more modern and accessible, and yet somehow manages not to lose that patina of nostalgia. And with "Shades of Murder," Granger has come up trumps again.About 100 years ago, 'Wicked' William Oakley was tried for poisoning-murder of his heiress wife, Cora, who was about to divorce him and take all her lovely money with her. His was found not guilty of the crime, but such was the feeling in the village of Bramford that he had got away with the crime, that 'Wicked' William left Bramford and England, never to be heard of again. In Bramford, William is survived by his two granddaughters, Damaris and Florence. Now, in their 80s, the sisters hope to sell their crumbling ruin of an estate, and to move to more modern accommodations, in order to live whatever is left of their lives in some comfort. All this suffers a setback, when a young Polish man (Jan Oakley) turns up claiming to be their nephew, the product of 'Wicked' William's second marriage. Jan has decided to put in his claim for half of his great grandfather's estate, to the dismay of Damaris and Florence, and to the fury of the sisters' friends (who include Juliet Painter, the forensic pathologist's sister, Markby's own sister, Laura, who also happens to be the sisters' solicitor, and Meredith, herself). And then, just as the tension is at its highest, Jan is poisoned with arsenic. Leaving aside the question of who would want Jan dead as there are just too many suspects there, the question of the day seems to be where the murderer obtained from, as well how (s)he administered the poison. For Superintendent Markby, this whole case is proving to be a both a professional and personal headache. His fondness for the Oakley sisters makes him want to handle the case delicately for their sakes, however his close relationships with everyone concerned makes it highly unlikely that he will be allowed to investigate Jan's murder. And his fears prove only all too true what the chief constable calls in the heavy guns and two investigators from the London Met are sent down to handle the case. Will the 'outsiders' be canny enough to handle the villagers and solve the case? And will Markby be able to stay out of the investigations, or will he throw caution to the winds and stick his oar in?The Oakley murders have all the hallmarks of a murder mystery set in the Golden Age of Mystery: a cosy English village, the macabre coincidence of two arsenic poisonings that link two murders within the same family, a 100 years apart, a murder victim that had somehow managed to antagonise nearly everyone in the village of Bramford, and where the suspects for this later murder include quite a few prominent members of the village... However Ann Grange

In 1889 at Fourways house in the English village of Bamford, Cora Oakley informs her spouse William she wants a separation. Ailing from an extracted tooth, Cora uses medicine to ease her pain. The next day she is found dead apparently poisoned. The police arrest William who stands trial for her murder. In 1999 William's descendants, two elderly sisters Damaris and Florence, are trying to sell their ancestral home Fourways. However, a Polish veterinary surgeon claiming to be William's great-grandson arrives. Jan demands half the profit from the sale of the house. Not long afterward, he is found dead from the same poison used to kill Cora. Superintendent Alan Markby and his significant other Meredith Mitchell lead the investigation into whether two senior citizens pulled an arsenic and old lace operation that requires looking into the century plus old mystery as well. SHADES OF MURDER, the thirteenth Cotwolds village mystery, is a wonderful double murder story as Ann Granger effortlessly moves back and forth between the two centuries. The story line is cleverly designed, but the tale, as is the case in most of these novels, belongs to the lead couple, having moved forward in their relationship and by doing so freshening up the plot.