Book Review: Winter of Discontent

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Winter of Discontent     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Jeanne M. Dams
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Cozy   Amateur Sleuth
Series: Dorothy Martin # 9
Forge, Dec 2004, $24.95, 256 pp.

Expatriate American retired educator Dorothy Martin and her British husband former Chief Constable Alan Nesbit settle into a cozy daily routine in Sherebury in which they enjoying their retirements together. Dorothy goes shopping with her best friend Jane Langland. They decide to drop the parcels off at Town Hall where Jane’s boyfriend museum curator Bill Fanshawe works, but he is not there.

Jane panics because Bill seemingly vanished. More to calm Jane down a bit Dorothy and Alan agree to set aside their afternoon tea to search for Bill. They interview Bill’s assistant Walter Tubbs and not long afterward Bill is found dead in the Roman tunnel beneath the museum. Dorothy and Alan investigate, but soon Walter is hospitalized as someone hit him over the head with an object. The case seems to evolve around a new exhibit that Alan was creating on Sherebury's role in WWII, but the prime suspect becomes the next victim. The two retirees struggle to solve the museum homicides.

The look at the silver years is terrific as readers obtain a taste (with tea) of how two retirees spend their lives together in a small English village. The who-done-it is fun more in the line of an amateur sleuth than a police procedural as Dorothy leads the inquiries while a reluctant Alan does not have to follow official procedures (though he is careful not to contaminate crime scenes). Fans of the series will enjoy this teatime cozy that solves the homicides between sips.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner