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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Before reading this review, you need to be aware that I have watched Death in Paradise since its inception and re-watched every episode during lockdown. But if you liked the original series with DI Richard Poole this is a must read. He tells the story so you begin to understand his idiosyncrasies something that you cannot get across in a TV series. Oh and there is an impossible murder to solve. A really good read.
mysterious
medium-paced
Having had so much fun with the Marlow Murder Club, I wanted to see what other mysteries Robert Thorogood had written. Death in Paradise actually started as a TV series; Thorogood was the screenwriter and after several successful seasons, he decided to turn the TV series into novels. The series features Detective Inspector Robert Poole, an uptight policeman posted to Saint-Marie in the Caribbean. Although St Marie has a reputation as one of the most unspoilt islands in the Caribbean, where the inhabitants are friendly and the pace of life gentle, Poole regards his posting as a punishment of sorts - sand everywhere, limited policing resources, having to share his shack with a lizard, amongst other indignities. And the sweltering heat above all; Poole believes that policemen must have STANDARDS and insists on wearing a tie and wool suit to work, much to the bewilderment/amusement of his subordinates - feisty Camille, earnest Fidel and seasoned Dwayne. A fun locked room mystery.
Just a bit repetitive at times, but overall good cozy mystery/locked room read
The murder itself was fine but uuuugh what a torture to read this
I couldn’t have wished more from a book based on one of my favourite TV shows! It had everything from on screen, perfectly translated onto page in the form of a fantastic whodunnit story that captured all the brilliance of Death in Paradise.
It was great to rejoin Detective Inspector Richard Poole and team, solving one of their cases of intrigue and mystery in the idyllic tropical island of Saint Marie.
The story was gripping from the get go (as it most often is on screen) laying foundations for a set of circumstances that didn’t add up at the scene of the crime. A confession to murder that didn’t make sense, the victim whom everybody seemed to like and the mysteries of a drawing pin in a room locked from the inside where the murder took place.... definitely had me hooked!
Aptly named ‘The meditation on murder’ I loved the plot - a health retreat where the unlikeliest of gruesome murders would have taken place where the spiritual figure of Aslan Kennedy came to his end. I was certainly at a loss to figure out what happened.. good job DI Richard was on the case!
All the characters were gloriously portrayed, in a funny, Agatha Christie style mystery with all the sun, sand, beaches (and murder!) that you’d expect from the show.
Fantastic book and really well written by Robert Thorogood.
It was great to rejoin Detective Inspector Richard Poole and team, solving one of their cases of intrigue and mystery in the idyllic tropical island of Saint Marie.
The story was gripping from the get go (as it most often is on screen) laying foundations for a set of circumstances that didn’t add up at the scene of the crime. A confession to murder that didn’t make sense, the victim whom everybody seemed to like and the mysteries of a drawing pin in a room locked from the inside where the murder took place.... definitely had me hooked!
Aptly named ‘The meditation on murder’ I loved the plot - a health retreat where the unlikeliest of gruesome murders would have taken place where the spiritual figure of Aslan Kennedy came to his end. I was certainly at a loss to figure out what happened.. good job DI Richard was on the case!
All the characters were gloriously portrayed, in a funny, Agatha Christie style mystery with all the sun, sand, beaches (and murder!) that you’d expect from the show.
Fantastic book and really well written by Robert Thorogood.
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Locked-room mystery…
When spiritual guru Aslan Kennedy is murdered, it seems like it should be an easy case for Detective Inspector Richard Poole and his colleagues in the small police force on the Caribbean island of Saint Marie. For one thing, a woman is found standing over Aslan’s body with a bloody knife in her hand, claiming she killed him. Secondly, the room in which the murder took place was locked and there were four other people in it, who presumably therefore all witnessed the crime. But DI Poole will soon discover that nothing about this crime is as straightforward as it looks…
This is the first of a short series of books based on the popular TV show, Death in Paradise, and written by the show’s creator. I may be the only person in Britain and perhaps the world who has never watched the show, so I came to the book cold, with no preconceptions about the characters or the setting. Like the series, the book is distinctly on the cosy side, with the paradise island setting and a bunch of quirky characters. DI Poole and his team are all likeable, although Poole himself is another of the tedious trend of “on the spectrum” detectives that contemporary crime fiction has been awash with in recent years. He doesn’t really understand people and has no friends, although his colleagues make every effort to bring him into the team. Oh, for a detective who’s just ordinary! However, Poole is a puzzle-solver and that comes in handy since this crime presents a good old-fashioned locked-room puzzle to solve!
Aslan had been leading a group in a meditation, and it soon becomes clear that the members of the group had been in a drugged sleep and wearing headphones and eye masks, so that their potential as witnesses is non-existent. Julia, the one who claims to have done the deed, was also drugged and doesn’t actually remember what happened. But the room was undoubtedly locked, so it seems that one of these five must be the murderer. This seems even more obvious when it turns out that in an earlier phase of his life, Aslan had been a conman and each of the people in the room had had prior dealings with him, so motives are plentiful.
It’s an enjoyable read and the plot is good, with a solution worthy of the Golden Age masters of the locked room mystery. The various suspects are well-drawn in that mildly stereotyped way of cosies, and their motives are interesting. We see the problems of investigation on an island with a tiny police force and too small to have local forensic labs, and the investigation element is well done.
However the book has a couple of weaknesses. The setting doesn’t really come to life – there’s no feel for what day-to-day life is like on the island. The heat and the tropical bursts of rain are mentioned endlessly but that’s about as much as we learn. I guess this is because it’s based on the TV show where, of course, the island is actually filmed and therefore no description is necessary, and if I’d previously watched the show my mind would doubtless have filled in the blanks. Also, we don’t meet many locals – basically a bunch of mostly Brits, including Poole himself, have been transported to an exotic location. That’s fairly typical for the cosy genre, of course, but a little local colour would have enhanced the setting, I feel.
The other flaw is that there is far too much repetition. Every now and then Poole redoes the whiteboard in the investigation room to bring it up to date with what’s been found out so far, and each time the details from the board are shown as a table in the book. That certainly makes the mystery fair play, but it’s more fun picking up clues than being spoon fed them. Admittedly, despite the spoon-feeding, I still didn’t work out how it was done, though I had a pretty good idea, which proved to be right, of who the murderer was.
Overall, I enjoyed it and would happily read the other books in the series – perfect lazy summer reading for those of us who prefer to read about tropical paradises than swelter in them. And I may even watch the show!
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
When spiritual guru Aslan Kennedy is murdered, it seems like it should be an easy case for Detective Inspector Richard Poole and his colleagues in the small police force on the Caribbean island of Saint Marie. For one thing, a woman is found standing over Aslan’s body with a bloody knife in her hand, claiming she killed him. Secondly, the room in which the murder took place was locked and there were four other people in it, who presumably therefore all witnessed the crime. But DI Poole will soon discover that nothing about this crime is as straightforward as it looks…
This is the first of a short series of books based on the popular TV show, Death in Paradise, and written by the show’s creator. I may be the only person in Britain and perhaps the world who has never watched the show, so I came to the book cold, with no preconceptions about the characters or the setting. Like the series, the book is distinctly on the cosy side, with the paradise island setting and a bunch of quirky characters. DI Poole and his team are all likeable, although Poole himself is another of the tedious trend of “on the spectrum” detectives that contemporary crime fiction has been awash with in recent years. He doesn’t really understand people and has no friends, although his colleagues make every effort to bring him into the team. Oh, for a detective who’s just ordinary! However, Poole is a puzzle-solver and that comes in handy since this crime presents a good old-fashioned locked-room puzzle to solve!
Aslan had been leading a group in a meditation, and it soon becomes clear that the members of the group had been in a drugged sleep and wearing headphones and eye masks, so that their potential as witnesses is non-existent. Julia, the one who claims to have done the deed, was also drugged and doesn’t actually remember what happened. But the room was undoubtedly locked, so it seems that one of these five must be the murderer. This seems even more obvious when it turns out that in an earlier phase of his life, Aslan had been a conman and each of the people in the room had had prior dealings with him, so motives are plentiful.
It’s an enjoyable read and the plot is good, with a solution worthy of the Golden Age masters of the locked room mystery. The various suspects are well-drawn in that mildly stereotyped way of cosies, and their motives are interesting. We see the problems of investigation on an island with a tiny police force and too small to have local forensic labs, and the investigation element is well done.
However the book has a couple of weaknesses. The setting doesn’t really come to life – there’s no feel for what day-to-day life is like on the island. The heat and the tropical bursts of rain are mentioned endlessly but that’s about as much as we learn. I guess this is because it’s based on the TV show where, of course, the island is actually filmed and therefore no description is necessary, and if I’d previously watched the show my mind would doubtless have filled in the blanks. Also, we don’t meet many locals – basically a bunch of mostly Brits, including Poole himself, have been transported to an exotic location. That’s fairly typical for the cosy genre, of course, but a little local colour would have enhanced the setting, I feel.
The other flaw is that there is far too much repetition. Every now and then Poole redoes the whiteboard in the investigation room to bring it up to date with what’s been found out so far, and each time the details from the board are shown as a table in the book. That certainly makes the mystery fair play, but it’s more fun picking up clues than being spoon fed them. Admittedly, despite the spoon-feeding, I still didn’t work out how it was done, though I had a pretty good idea, which proved to be right, of who the murderer was.
Overall, I enjoyed it and would happily read the other books in the series – perfect lazy summer reading for those of us who prefer to read about tropical paradises than swelter in them. And I may even watch the show!
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com