Malice in Cornwall: Malice in Cornwall: An Erskine Powell Mystery

by Graham Thomas

Book Overview

ERSKINE POWELL OF SCOTLAND YARD IS BACK--INVESTIGATING THE STRANGE RIDDLE OF PENRICK SANDS. On the north coast of Cornwall, residents in the quaint seaside town of Penrick report a terrifying... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0804116563
• ISBN13: 9780804116565
• Release Date: June 1998
• Publisher: Ballantine Group
• Length: 242 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 4.1" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

English cozy takes on Cornish ambiance

I picked up this delightful mystery on a whim based on the quote by Susan Allen Toth (the engaging author of "My Love Affair with England") on the flyleaf. Graham Thomas draws his quaint and quirky local Cornish characters with a fine hand, and seems to be developing a fascinating, if all-too-human protagonist in Scotland Yard's Erskine Powell. As for locale, you can feel the rising damp on every page. Well done, I say. I look forward to more development of Chief Inspector Powell as well as more colorful locations.

A first rate mystery

With the tin mining industry going elsewhere and the fishing industry near death, the residents of Cornwall depend on tourism to support their lifestyles. The town of Penrick Sands is the typical Cornwall town except they have a problem that drives tourists away. Every evening, a headless and armless torso illuminates the night skies only to disappear a few minutes later. The local constabulary has been unable to obtain any answers to the puzzle. New Scotland Yard Chief Superintendent Erskine Powell and his assistant Detective Sargent William Black are assigned to the investigation. Although they find the torso washed up on the beach, they have no idea who is behind the body's continued reappearance. While they continue their inquiries, they learn that a teenager was murdered thirty years ago with killer never caught. Similarities between the two cases exist. As the police officers get closer to the truth, a desperate individual is ready to take lethal steps to insure that they fail to findany answers. Graham Thomas is a writer who has the ability to describe a place in incredibly colorful detail, making the reader feel as if they are on location. The second Powell mystery is better then its predecessor, the fabulous MALICE IN THE HIGHLANDS, because it allows the audience to see inside the flawed soul of the appealing hero. The complex mystery, connecting the past and present, makes this one novel that will not be put down until the end so that the reader obtains all the answers.Harriet Klausner