Claire Barclay, a tour operator, guides her small group of guests around England to the sites of their favourite mystery books. Although it’s not included in the tour itinerary, she always manages somehow to find freshly murdered bodies on every journey. It’s a good thing her sweetheart, Mark, is a detective inspector with the Major Crimes unit because they can work together to find the culprits.
This third installment in the British book tour mystery series is titled Perils in Yorkshire (Camel Press) and it’s written by Emma Dakin, the pen name of Marion Crook of Gibsons. Dakin’s books follow the British cozy style of whodunnits—they’re well researched, full of plot twists and inevitably land the protagonists in a spot of danger.
Someone on Claire’s current tour through the English county of Yorkshire is engaged in big time drug trafficking. But who? The three American ladies? The businessman? Or the quiet guy who wants to be a farmer? It couldn’t be Phillip who tends to wander away from the tour since he joined the group for a different reason, as Claire finds out to her distress. And what does chocolate have to do with the deaths?
Full disclosure: the author thanks this reviewer in the acknowledgements for assisting her with the distinctive north country idioms. Aye, I’m the Yorkshire lass, as mentioned. I lived there for four years during my impressionable teens when I picked up the unique style of talking, luv! As Claire drives around the Yorkshire countryside, I wondered whether her descriptions would correspond with my memories. The Emma Dakin books are also travel tales, taking the reader on a road trip. Dakin describes the tour in rich detail: the bleak moors, the pub lunches, the quaintness of York and the seaside town of Whitby.
It’s a good read. In fact, my only problem with this book is the back cover blurb. It gives away too much of the story. A mystery should be a mystery right up to the end.
Find Perils in Yorkshire at Talewind Books in Sechelt, at the libraries, and online at Amazon, Kindle, etc. Also have a look for the author’s non-fiction book, Always Pack a Candle, by Marion Crook. It’s a memoir of Crook’s time as a public health nurse in rural Cariboo-Chilcotin and it has become a best seller in B.C.
