Diana Killian - Sonnet of the Sphinx (2006)
Reviewed by Yvette Banek
The spectacularly beautiful and genteel Lake District of England, the center of the 19th-century literary Romantic Movement, home not only to Wordsworth's daffodil cottage, but Beatrix Potter's "Peter Rabbit" farmstead, is the unexpected setting for Diana Killian's delightful mystery, Sonnet Of The Sphinx. In fact, a less likely place for murderers to lurk is hard to imagine. So part of the fun of this three book series by Diana Killian is to be found in this odd juxtaposition.
Another part of the fun has to be the two engaging main characters: One is the very inquisitive American literary scholar and Anglophile, Grace Hollister, currently on sabbatical from her teaching duties in California, and the other is the very attractive ex-jewel thief/current antiques dealer and possible boyfriend Peter Fox who flits in and out of the plots usually trying to avoid bad reminders from his shady past. The truth is that the beautiful (and fictional) village of Innisdale, England hasn't been quite the same since Grace Hollister came to town.
Where Killian takes these two may not be all that surprising but it is the style and wit with which she does so, that intrigues the reader and makes this series rise miles above the average "cozy" -- a word I abominate. Be that as it may, it is the word hung around the neck of certain types of mysteries where murders usually occur off stage and the heroine, who in reality would never in a million years be called upon to solve a crime, much less hang out with a reformed jewel thief and his ilk, does so with alarming regularity, all the while ingesting copious amounts of tea and crumpets. Well, maybe not crumpets, but you get the idea.
Author Diana Killian seems well aware of the limitations of this sleepy genre, but goes full speed ahead anyway, enlivening things with her own brand of electricity. Armed only with talent, an obvious affection for her characters, and a very strong story-telling gene, she has fashioned another entertaining mystery in her "Poetic Death" series which will definitely keep you up reading late into the spooky night.
I do suggest, if you haven't already, that you get your hands on Killian's debut novel, the delightful romp High Rhymes and Misdemeanors, and follow it closely with the equally delightful Verse of the Vampyre, before settling in with Sonnet of the Sphinx, Grace and Peter's latest misadventure.
Despite the current book's title, the fabulous duo is not off to Egypt. They are, instead, locally on the hunt (Grace more so than Peter who, as usual, has his own problems -- once again he is suspected of murder and must spend an inordinate amount of time being insouciant -- a specialty of his. If he sounds a bit of a pain, he isn't. He is all typical English charm. One hardly blames Grace for falling under his spell.) for a lost poem purportedly written by none other than Percy Bysshe Shelley. Mr. Romantic Poet himself. Killian has already put you in the mood by including a very touching prologue showing what might have happened on the famous stormy voyage which resulted in Shelley's drowning death.
Peter Fox, in his current incarnation as an antiques dealer and owner of the shop, Rogue's Gallery, has bought the contents of a farm that once belonged to the Mallow family, long term residents of the area. The farm itself has recently been purchased by the scion of a wealthy Japanese family, Mr. Matsukado, a spoiled young man who seems overly enamored of British mannerisms and romantic poetry. That he comes equipped with a female ninja bodyguard as well as heaps of money to throw about only add to his rather charmless persona.
When a clue-filled love letter is found tucked away in some old papers, it not only hints at a lost Shelley, but compounds the mystery of a local man who disappeared during or after WWII and is widely thought to have been an Army deserter.
At the same time, a man out of Peter's jewel thieving past, a hulking brute of a Turkish prison guard, is found murdered in the park during a fete with Grace hovering over his pockets -- or so the surly new librarian, Scott Sartyn, who comes upon the scene, insists to the police. Unfortunately there's also a new cop in town who's taken an unseemly interest in Grace's suspicious behavior.
Now add to the mix: another murder, an obscenely huge missing jewel called The Serpent's Egg, several "out of the blue" attempts to murder Grace, and then sprinkle the scene with the usual cast of Lake District eccentrics and stretch the tension of the "will they or won't they" nature of Grace and Peter's strange relationship and you have the makings of a terrific mystery guaranteed to capture your imagination.
Teach me half the gladness
That thy brain must know;
Such harmonious madness
From my lips would flow,
The world should listen then, as I am listening now.
--Percy Bysshe Shelley
Posted by Yvette Banek in Book Reviews | Permalink
