Death in the Crypt (A Cressida Fawcett Mystery)
Historic eleventh-century Winchester Cathedral makes a splendid setting for Chester’s fifth 1920s cosy mystery featuring the Honourable Cressida Fawcett and her friends Dotty and Alfred Chatterton. Cressy’s Aunt Mary lives a short walk from the cathedral, and the dean has offered to give them a tour, taking them momentarily out of the tedium of redecorating plans for Aunt Mary’s fabulous Queen Anne-style home, where design-conscious Cressy is doing her best to politely manoeuvre around her aunt’s dreadful decorating choices!
It’s not been long since Cressy and co.’s thrilling train adventure, Murder on the Scotland Express, a fun read but not a necessary one in a stand-alone series. Cathedral staff are mourning a recent death, a ghost is wandering the cathedral grounds, and the archives have been broken into, so Cressy is horrified to discover the just-murdered verger during their tour of the crypt. Standing over the body is Aunt Mary’s maid, Nancy, poised with a hefty, blood-dripping candlestick, proclaiming her innocence and love for the dead man at her feet. Cressy immediately calls Scotland Yard’s DCI Andrews, but withholds some details (and some evidence). Despite being warned against further investigations, she barrels ahead, but this is part of Cressy’s endearing and enduring charm as a no-longer-quite-so-amateur sleuth.
This title is a little slower out of the starting gate than the previous books as our heroine follows the many threads of culpability, but one unforeseen event sends the plot racing to the finish line with natural ease. Alfred is still working his way to being more than a friend, adding a little romantic spice to a delightful whodunnit series which keeps its readers guessing.
