When he was a young police officer in Cornwall just starting his career, Alan Nesbitt came across a dead woman in a coastal cave; the autopsy revealed a large dose of LSD in her system and, it being 1968, it was assumed that she took the drug and then, either in a fit of despondency or because the drug made her think she could fly, jumped off the cliff, ending up in the cave. No one has ever identified the woman, but 30 years later now-retired Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt is still haunted by the death, which he continues to believe is suspicious. His wife of two years, ex-pat American Dorothy Martin, wants to visit Cornwall both to get away from the endless rain in Sherebury and to possibly lay Alan’s concerns to rest. They meet a mother and daughter in their Penzance hotel, the older woman clearly dying; when the younger woman ends up in the self-same cave, also dead, Dorothy and Alan cannot resist investigating, with the unofficial blessing of the local constabulary…. This is the 7th book in this light cozy series, which features busy-body Dorothy transplanted to England as a Miss Marple type personality, with less character; I enjoy reading the series, but it is by no means a prime example of this genre. I pinpointed the culprit early on, and more or less determined the motives as well, but I had fun remembering my ancestral home of Cornwall through the eyes of these characters. I don’t think you need to have read earlier books in the series to enjoy this one; mildly recommended. ( )

I have read these books as fast as I can find them. I love the elderly newlyweds solving mysteries together. Fun and easy to read. ( )

Booklist Review: Dorothy Martin, a sixtyish American widow newly married to her retired chief constable husband Alan Nesbitt, escapes with him for a holiday in Cornwall. She hopes to exorcise the memory of an unsolved murder that still bothers Alan: a young woman with long blonde hair found in a cove in Penzance in 1968. Arriving in lovely and sunny Cornwall, Dorothy and Alan meet a model named Lexa and her mother, who is clearly very ill. When Lexa’s body is found in the same Penzance cove a few nights later, connections between the murders seem remote--or are they? Dorothy is salty and strong-minded, but she always remembers her hats and her sunscreen; her British spouse is genial and gentle but always an ex-copper. Drug dealing, the antiques trade, and Cornwall itself, its beauty and its history of smuggling, all play roles in this lively cozy.
(Reviewed September 15, 2001) -- GraceAnne DeCandido ( )