The Lover of the Grave

This is the 3rd book in Taylor's Lydmouth Village mysteries (the 1st was An Air that Kills & the 2nd was The Mortal Sickness (A Lydmouth Mystery)). They are somewhat similar to his Roth trilogy--set in a small town in England--but have a somewhat different feel to them. While the setting is pretty dreary (esp. since this one's in the dead of Winter), they are, perhaps, not as dark as the Roth series. I liked this one best of the 1st 3 in the series and better than the Roth books as well. However, in this book, the romantic tension between the two main characters, Inspector Thornhill & Jill Francis, becomes more intense & more explicit than in the 2 prior books. Also, the mysteries are intertwined and clever. It's pretty slow going until the dramatic end, which is not only surprising, but also leans towards the next book--to see what happens to the two of them. It's well-written as usual, but with more observant/interesting turns of phrase such as: p. 300: "Jordan wa not a stupid man but, as with so many self-centered people, egoism obscured his view as effectively as a pair of blinkers." But, it's still not in a class with Taylor's terrific masterpieces: Caroline Minuscule and An Unpardonable Crime IMHO.