Death Comes to the Fair
Catherine Lloyd’s Death Comes to the Fair is a pseudo-historical detective story, a sort of ‘village Agatha Christie in costume.’ Bland and derivative, it could be set in any historical period, and the historical details of Regency England, of which there are almost none, have no function in the plot. This concerns the death of Mr Thurrock, the unpopular verger of the parish church. Soon after being awarded too many prizes for his vegetables at the harvest festival, he is fatally crowned by a falling gargoyle. Rumour has it that he has been murdered because of his unjustified horticultural success. The detective, Lucy Harrington, is a spinster of uncertain years who is betrothed to and assisted by the local lord of the manor, Major Sir Robert Kurland, a curmudgeonly, retired soldier.
The mystery revolves around the murder-by-gargoyle and a missing Kurland estate land deed. Among the suspects are the verger’s brother, Nathaniel; two local female herbalists, suspected of witchcraft; and an assortment of locals and relatives who might have been motivated to cause the verger’s death, or may be benefiting from the disappearance of the missing deed that records the sale of a piece of Kurland land. The plot is so slight that to help it along it requires either a great deal of clever comic writing or some delightfully unusual and eccentric characters. Sadly, it has neither. Death Comes to the Fair is the fourth in a series, so there is, presumably, a loyal readership for this type of book.
