Hemlock Bay (Rachel Savernake)
Martin Edwards writes ‘Golden Age’ detective novels set in the 1930s and as far as possible written as if we were still in the 1930s. He has even revived the Cluefinder, a Golden Age trope once long-forgotten (a list of clues to the identity of the murderer added at the end of the book). The only possible anachronism is that the LGBTQ element would have been less overt in a 1930s novel.
This is the fifth in Edwards’ Rachel Savernake series featuring an eccentric amateur criminologist helping the slow-witted police to solve homicides. Hemlock Bay is a Lancashire seaside resort near Blackpool, typical of the new post-WW1 holiday developments and is wholly believable, except that it has an exceptional number of guests who have a motive for murder. This is very much ‘cosy crime’. We don’t feel anything for the victims, but this is a game between author and reader. It is played by the rules, and if you like ‘Golden Age’ novels you’ll love it.
