Murder On The Cliffs. A mystery featuring Daphne du Maurier

Daphne du Maurier Mystery #1

by Joanna Challis

Murder On The Cliffs. A mystery featuring Daphne du Maurier (Daphne du Maurier Mysteries)

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical Mystery, Historical, British Literature, Cozy

Paperback

First published November 24, 2009

About the author

Joanna Challis, a lover of old houses, wild English gardens, and dusty bookstores, lives and writes in Australia, but her heart resides on the cliffs of Cornwall. She is the author of the Daphne du Maurier Mysteries.

Reviews

[Jeanne Adamek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually I really liked the book. According to all the reviews a lot of people didn`t enjoy this story. I found it interesting--maybe it was also a case of reading the story at the right time. Reading a book that is right at the time completely raises the interest factor, and in my case, so much so that I can recommend this mystery.

[Gerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

The thought of a thriller with a literary bent, ie Miss Daphne du Maurier investigating the crime, pleased me and I was looking forward to reading it, especially as it had a strong Cornish background.

Whilst 'Murder on the Cliffs' is perfectly acceptable, it was a trifle disappointing as Daphne did not entirely come across as the bright spark that one would have hoped or expected. Her dialogue was somewhat stilted at times and some of the situations she found herself in would not have found favour with a more intelligent individual.

However, even though the tale was at times laboured, Daphne followed the investigation through and, as one would expect, she was determined not to give in until she found the culprit for the death of a young lady that she found on the beach at the foot of the cliffs. Was it an accident or was foul play involved? That was what Daphne set out to discover. And, of course, she eventually worked out what had happened and who had perpetrated the crime. All very satisfactory indeed and, providing one has the character to persevere, all quite satisfying.

Padthaway, the house on the cliffs where most of the action takes place, has all the characteristics of Mandalay even down to a sinister housekeeper in the vein of Danvers of 'Rebecca' fame and author Joanna Challis has presented a story that gives fictional life to the inspiration behind that classic Daphne du Maurier novel.

As for the 'Daphne du Maurier Mystery' series, of which this is the first, I will reserve judgement until I have read at least one more - and, believe it or not, I have one sculling about somewhere!

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

It doesn't sound like a bad concept--the young, unfledged Daphne Du Maurier finding herself involved with a mystery that features a sinister housekeeper, a handsome, brooding man, and a huge, mysterious old mansion on the Cornish coast. And so Daphne stumbles across a frightened young girl and a dead woman...
The problem is that it's so badly written! If you want a mess of dangling participles, misplaced modifiers, anachronisms, overwrought diction and misused words, this is probably for you. Some of the errors might be just typographical (it doesn't look as though anyone copy edited or proof-read the book), but the ages of the characters seem to shift in a disconcerting way (for example, David is described initially as in his late twenties, later as just ten years older than his 15-year-old sister). I finished the book mostly to see if the style was supposed to represent a naive Du Maurier, and would improve gradually as she experienced the traumatic events. Nope. Stay away unless you have someone who would enjoy having the more egregious errors read aloud.

[Idril Celebrindal · Rating 1 out of 5]

I made it through two chapters but the writing was so completely terrible I just couldn't go on. Never mind that the main character (poor Daphne du Maurier, maligned by being presented as such an idiot) travels to a remote town on the Cornish coast for the sole purpose of visiting a specific abbey and then just wanders through the village and into the woods and wonders why that didn't suddenly reveal said abbey to her; never mind the at least five instances of tonal whiplash experienced in the first chapter; never mind that Daphne finds a dead body on a beach and then waltzes home without waiting for the police: the prose is just so bad. It alternates between overwrought and confused. Some examples from the first chapter, because I didn't really want to reread any further than that:

I soon came upon a cove. A beautiful, magnificent, dangerous cove.

"Cove n. A small coastal inlet, especially one having high cliffs protecting vessels from prevailing winds." Hm, ok. So, why is this cove dangerous? I don't know, because the thought just stops there. I guess I was supposed to get a sense of thrilling tension, but instead I just snort-laughed and thought "what??"

A kitchen maid to marry Lianne's brother? The way she said it inferred her brother's status well above an ordinary kitchen maid.

IMPLIED. Also, I've read the second sentence half a dozen times and surely the "was" that is missing isn't actually optional?

Curious about her family, I asked a few more questions but received only monosyllabic replies.

Well, we're on page 4 and it's our first meeting with this girl too, so maybe you could tell the reader what those questions and answers are? But no. I guess don't strain yourself, author, to actually tell the story to your readers.

Tall and lithe, her brother's handsome face turned to her, the lower part of his jaw straining to make sense of her blubbering words.

I imagine he'd have more success if he used his ears and brain for attempting to comprehend speech, rather than his jaw. Jaws aren't known for their listening capabilities. Also, the subject of that sentence is the face, so as written it's the face that is tall and lithe, not the brother. So that's unusual.

Two sentences later:

Squeezing her eyes shut, she clung to the inside of her brother's brown tweed coat as though wanting to bury her face forever in its green satin folds.

I am guessing the green refers to the inside of the coat that was just stated to be brown, but that's meeting the author more than halfway.

David, much older than his younger sister, in his late twenties I suspected, clasped her face in his hands and laughed.

I mean... yeah, if he's older then obviously his sister is younger, but also, what does his age have to do with clasping his sister's face? It's so awkwardly shoehorned in. This sentence is about five down from the jaw-straining line above; he's so concerned about his sobbing sister that he is visibly tense, but before she explains what she's sobbing about, he's already laughing at her. What? He's the fourth character we meet in the first chapter, and none are consistent from one sentence to the next.

If I keep going I'll just end up typing out the whole chapter.

[Bee · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a letdown! MURDER ON THE CLIFFS had so much potential -- gothic undertones, set in Cornwall, murder mystery, even featuring a young Daphne du Maurier. (REBECCA is one of my favorite books) To say it fell flat is an understatement. I labored through the first half, even though I was, quite frankly, bored, then skimmed through the rest to get to the ending. Daphne was a ninny, the writing was poor, the characters were uninteresting and dull, and there were confusing bits -- like that Lianne was supposed to be emotionally disturbed? It was presented as a given and obvious to everyone but it wasn't obvious to me as reader. There were also a few instances of word usage that felt wrong for the time period, like when Jenny referred to Victoria as a 'player'. Really? In 1920s England?

Such a disappointing book.

[Julie · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Like a wild animal, he stared out at the sea."

"'Lots of mischief,' Jenny laughed, her face suddenly somber."

"The drizzle transformed to droplets and the droplets to pelts." (Perhaps a pelt of a wild animal, staring out at the sea.)

This book is not good.

[Amy Marie · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. I read about 120 pages of this book. I enjoyed the other books in this series, but this one fell flat for me and I found the ending easy to guess.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Daphne Du Maurier read an article in the newspaper, The Times about an old abbey that is located on the Cornish coast. It dates all the way back to the Charlemagne era. Daphne loves rooting around and learning about the history of old places. She begs her parents to let her stay instead of going with them and trying to find a husband. Her parents agree on one condition…Daphne must stay with an old friend, Ewe Sinclaire.

While taking a morning walk, Daphne hears a woman scream. When she arrives at the feet of the young woman is a body. The woman who screamed is named Lianne. Lianne identifies the body as her brother’s fiancée, Victoria Bastion. Though Lianne is glad Victoria is dead, she would not wish it this way. When Daphne meets Lord David Hartley, she becomes intrigued by him. Lord Hartley invites Daphne to stay in the abbey. She can’t pass up the offer. While there, she gets to know the Hartley’s and Victoria. It seems that the Hartley’s have many secrets. Daphne decides to investigate the murder of Victoria. Daphne better watch her back or she could end up like Victoria.

I enjoyed Murder on the Cliffs. It had this old, classic feel to it that reminded me of my favorite mystery stories growing up. There was no glitz or hype. Just an old abbey and a family that had a closet full of dead bodies. Daphne was so sweet and naïve that I wasn’t sure at first if she was the right person to solve the murder. I read this book very quickly. It was memorizing. There were some twists. Enough to keep me from figuring the identity of the killer till the end. I do plan to check out more novels by this author.

[Ms. Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm rounding up. I did not have high hopes for this, but I could not resist even the most tenuous connection to Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca, since it is one of my favorite books.
A young Daphne du Maurier comes upon a body while visiting a family friend in Cornwall. This mystery leads her to a magnificent Elizabethan mansion called Padthaway. As she attempts to find the killer of the beautiful murder victim Daphne is meets and is consequently inspired by a beautiful but slightly evil mistress of the house, a sinister housekeeper, a handsome master of the house, a totally incompetent constable, and other assorted characters and situations that could loosely, somehow become Rebecca.
Unlikely I'll attempt to find the other 2 books in this series.

[Kristine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some quick thoughts rants...
- Daphne is so STUPID. She refers to the Hartleys (is that even their name? I don't know and I don't care) repeatedly as her friends while also investigating them for murder. She even says she wants to be loyal to them and not help the investigation! Also she runs all over town openly talking to everybody about it and asking blunt, intensely nosy questions that make it 1000000% clear she's conducting her own amateur investigation. She even tells people that she's investigating!
- Which leads me to point two: she is not that good at investigating but she thinks she's a genius. If she was, she might think for even one second that it could be dangerous to walk around this house full of potential murderers who know she's trying to figure out the big mystery (which she constantly refers to as "the mystery" as if she's detached from it instead of forcibly shoving her nose right into it).
- Speaking of people who are not geniuses, why would this family even WANT her to be hanging around like that? She's a nosy, rude, tactless unwanted guest...or at least she should be unwanted.
- Daphne is so IMMATURE. She seriously starts falling for David? She never once thinks he may be charming her to get her off his scent? WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENS!
- Back to point one: Daphne is a TERRIBLE friend. Nobody actively investigates their friends for murder! Or more to the point she uses these "friends" and their (deadly) drama as fodder for her novel, taking advantage of their interest in her to gain access to their house and their secrets which she then tells anyone who asks.
- Daphne has a BIG MOUTH.
- The woman who actually wrote Rebecca could never be so vapid and dumb. This book does a huge disservice to du Marier's actual legacy.

TL;DR I really hated this book.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable story with high marks for atmosphere but I thought the writing style was a bit unpolished.

[Elizabeth (Miss Eliza) · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Special Content only on my blog, Strange and Random Happenstance during Golden Summer (May-September 2013)

Daphne Du Maurier has begged off another London season to spend some time in Cornwall, a desire her family just can't grasp, but reluctantly agrees to if she will stay with her mother's old nurse, Ewe Sinclaire, an inveterate gossip. Daphne has ambitions of being a writer and the lure of the windswept cliffs calls to her, as does the lost scrolls of Charlemagne watched over by the nuns at Rothmarten Abbey. If she happens to stumble upon gorgeous old houses with a Gothic air, well, so much the better. Little does she suspect that she will stumble upon a corpse on the beach on her very first morning walk.

The body of Victoria Bastion is beautiful even in death. Victoria was the local girl who worked her way into the kitchens of the great house, Padthaway, and then into the heart of Lord David. They were to be married in a weeks time, something that David's mother, Lady Hartley, was hoping to avoid at all costs. But would she murder Victoria just to stop the wedding? Plus David's sister Lianne, well, there are stories about her being touched and "not quite right," their father did kill himself after all. Daphne is welcomed into Padthaway because she has a snob appeal that just makes Lady Hartley giddy. The lady of the manor is able to entertain the daughter of the famous actor, Gerald Du Maurier, and perhaps make a match between her recently available son and Daphne. Daphne views this all as a little unseemly, not the least of which was avoiding the London season meant avoiding matchmaking, but then again, there is an undefinable something about David that attracts her. But she doesn't plan on using her unrestricted access to Padthaway to make a match, no she plans to solve a murder; because Victoria didn't die because of some accident, no matter how much the Hartleys hope that that will be the verdict.

More then anything it is Daphne's presence, as well as her poking around, that gets the investigation going. If it was left in the hands of Sir Edward, the investigator and tenant of the Hartleys, the case would most likely be marked down as accidental and things would continue on as they had, the rich protected, the poor lacking justice. Daphne promises Mrs. Bastion that she will figure out who the killer is and bring them to justice, all hopefully before her parents hear what is going on and demand she comes home. Because Daphne is playing with fire. She is in a nest of vipers and doesn't know which one has the poisonous bite.

When I first saw the movie Rebecca I was instantly in love with the world Daphne Du Maurier had created. I even have a teddy bear named Maxim de Winter. I soon not only feel in love with the book, but sneakily excised it from my mother's Franklin Library of Mysteries and installed it on my own bookshelves, I even carefully penned my name on the flyleaf so that it was "obviously" always mine. Rebecca has soon been followed by a few other titles from my mom's collectible books, which I hope she hasn't noticed, but I think she should have caught it by now if she ever was, but the fact remains that Rebecca is my favorite. Not only is it a classic in every since of the word, but it has perhaps the most memorable and evocative opening line ever: "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."

Now, keep in mind this in the mid-nineties when I first read Rebecca, meaning no Wikipedia, no handy Amazon UK to get my British books, in other words, only the books or info I could find out in reference books or what was on the shelves at B. Dalton's. Therefore I had Rebecca and Jamaica Inn. That was it, that was the extent of Daphne Du Maurier here in the United States. Sure I found out later that she had written almost forty books, but at this time there where two. But there where books about her and sequels of Rebecca, all fictional, but all about Daphne. Therefore I picked up these books as a hope to forge more of a connection with the author of Rebecca. The first book I picked up was an abysmal sequel called Mrs. DeWinter that not only had none of the magic of Rebecca, but gave me a weird lasting impression of Mrs. Danvers hanging out in a tiny room in a house on a country lane surrounded by Rebecca's clothes... odd and, just, well odd. Years later, with new hope I picked up Justine Picardie's Daphne. This book which alternated between an unknown modern Bronte historian and Daphne Du Maurier and her Branwell Bronte obsession left much to be desired. Therefore when I heard about this series by Joanna Challis I was excited and trepidatious.

Murder on the Cliffs is easily the best meta Daphne Du Maurier fiction I have yet to read, and as you see, I have read quite a few. I will admit that, oddly, Daphne Du Maurier would be the most likely of all authors fictionalized to have actually had a secret career as sleuth just because there is so much we don't know about her life, and there's just so many secrets about her relationships and her sexuality... Of course, there is a certain suspension of disbelief that I had to force myself to accept when I would volubly say, oh, Gerald wouldn't do that, or, what about Menabilly, f this Padthaway, Maderley is based on Menabilly pure and simple. But sometimes the suspension was just too great. The main problem I had was with the few little glimpses we had of Gerald Du Maurier, her larger then life father. Their relationship would be easily classified in the "eww" category. There where many suggestions of incest and sexual molestation, later in Daphne's life she took up her father's ex lover, and there was his very strong dislike of anyone she was involved with. Therefore to have Gerald actively suggesting that Daphne get herself married... well, um, no. Thankfully, Joanna really relegated Gerald to the background so that I was able to push this aside.

Overall though the characters had such life and vitality, all with a slight nod and wink to Daphne's oeuvre. I mean, sure, Daphne's worship of men seemed a little forced, but the way she sparred with "Mr. Brown" was fabulous, especially if you know that this man is, in actuality, her future husband. Joanna was able to take some of the bones of Du Maurier and make them different, more fleshed out, but able to relate to the original text in such a way that it was a fun time getting little jokes, like Castle Mor. Characterization-wise, the apparent arrested development of Daphne and Lianne was a little annoying at times. You would never think that they were 21 and 15 respectively. With Lianne, it's kind of part of the character, with Daphne though... maybe it is a subtle way in which to bring out the possible abuse by retarding her development in some ways? Finally, the Bastion twins, if ever there was a Bronte homage that Du Maurier would approve of, this was it. With their Cathy and Heathcliff mentality, aw, just too perfect for an author who was beyond obsessed with the Brontes. Daphne would smile at this... or at least smirk.

[Janet Rosfeld · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've been reading quite a few books with mystery writers as the sleuths. Andrew Wilson's series featuring Agatha Christie and Nicola Upson's excellent series featuring Josephine Tey. Then I saw a book featuring Daphne du Maurier solving mysteries. "Rebecca" is one of my all time favorite books so I thought great. Not so great - where do I start -poor story development, clunky plot, bad grammar & syntax, no editing. Here's a sample of her dreadful prose -"I'd opted to take the walk through the woods to breath its fresh salty air and ripened sense of danger..... "Changeable and unreadable, the sea was like Victoria Bastion, a simple country girl who'd transcended into a complex victim. Victim. Perhaps I was wrong to call her that, for she had lived large and hard, climbing from class to class, embracing new friends and exploring new boundaries." Victim - I'm the victim for enduring cruel and unusual use of adjectives and adverbs. I advise you to skip this one and visit Manderly again, as I will, as soon as I can get the bitter after taste of this Cornish travesty out of my senses.

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was expecting something a little darker considering that this was a Daphne du Maurier mystery. It was simply a cozy mystery that takes place in a Cornwall village. The book itself seemed to be too long for the telling. If you don't think of Daphne as anyone but just Daphne then possibly this would have been a better read for me.

I had figured out who had killed Victoria a long time before the end of the book, I just didn't know the why. There were several possible reasons for that.

I am giving this 3.5 out of 5 stars, as I was expecting so much more and I tired of the story before the ending.

[Patricia Lane · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the first in a projected series with Daphne du Maurier as the protagonist. I was predisposed to like it but just couldn't get beyond the fourth chapter. I realize that the atmosphere is supposed to be melodramatic, but the writing just isn't that good. "Sea spray foamed at the mouth of the restless sea." Etc. Oh well.....

[Melanie Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel is a mystery with Daphne du Maurier as the main character. She is the author of Rebecca, one of my favorite books and films. It is set in Cornwall and so far it does have a Rebecca feel to it. The mystery has just unfolded and I can't wait to see "who-dunit"!

[Frank · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first of three mystery novels featuring young Daphne Du Maurier written by Challis. Of course Du Maurier was the author of the classic Rebecca and many other novels.

Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, (13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989) was an English author and playwright. Although she is classed as a romantic novelist, her stories seldom feature a conventional happy ending, and have been described as "moody and resonant" with overtones of the paranormal. These bestselling works were not at first taken seriously by critics, but have since earned an enduring reputation for storytelling craft. Many have been successfully adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca, My Cousin Rachel, and Jamaica Inn and the short stories "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now/Not After Midnight". Du Maurier spent much of her life in Cornwall where most of her works are set. As her fame increased through her novels and the films based upon them, she became more reclusive.



In Murder on the Cliffs, Daphne is spending the summer in Cornwall to look into some lost Charlemagne manuscripts stored at a local abbey. But while there, she stumbles into a murder mystery involving a rich family living at their estate called Padthaway. She discovers a young woman dead at the bottom of a cliff with a young girl screaming over her. Was it an accident or murder? Well Daphne decides to try to solve the mystery and to do so gets involved with the Hartley family of Padthaway. Along the way, she also meets up with her future husband, Sir Frederick Browning, who is working with Scotland Yard. The mysteries and the atmosphere of Padthaway and its family are to be the basis of Du Maurier's most famous work, REBECCA, but the place could have also inspired some of her other works with its history of pirates and smuggling.

Overall, I thought this was a pretty good mystery featuring an author who I always enjoy reading (I've read several of du Maurier's novels). I did have one quibble: the book was supposed to take place in 1921. Since du Maurier was born in 1907, that would make her about 14 at the time but in the book she comes off as older ... probably 18 or 19. Would still give this a mild recommendation.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

"YOUNG DAPHNE du MAURIER is headstrong, adventurous, and standing on the cusp of greatness.

"Walking on the cliffs in Cornwall on a dark and stormy day just after the Great War has finally come to an end, Daphne stumbles upon the drowned body of a beautiful woman, dressed only in a nightgown, her strewn along the rocks, her eyes gazing up to the heavens. Daphne soon learns that the mysterious woman was engaged to marry Lord Hartley of Padthaway, an Elizabethan mansion full of intriguing secrets.

"As the daughter of the famous Sir Gerald du Maurier, Daphne is welcomed into the Hartley home, but when the drowning of Miss Victoria Bastion turns out to be murder, Daphne determines to get to the bottom of the mysteries of Padthaway -- in part to find fresh inspiration for her writing, and in part because she is irresistibly drawn to the romance of grand houses and long-buried secrets.

"Murder on the Cliffs is an enthralling mystery that gives fictional life to the inspiration behind Daphne du Maurier's classic Rebecca."
~~front flap

This book was a disappointment for me. It was 245 pages (out of 292) of Daphne waffling, first suspecting one person, then another, then a third, then back to the first, etc. Tiny clues were sprinkled through those first pages, but were almost lost in the general obfuscation of Daphne' shifting, inconclusive suspicions. The books could have been written in half the number of pages and been much more enjoyable.

[Lora Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars - I'm not a fan of reading books that have real authors as a main character so I went into it with NO expectations that it would be written in the same vein or calibre as the real Daphne du Maurier. I thought of the main character, Daphne, as only a fictional character having no relation to the real Daphne.

I enjoyed the atmosphere and the mystery, and the fact that it was a clean book was a bonus.
However, it could've benefited from meticulous editors. Some sentences were awkward. Also, unless the grand house had three dining rooms, the room they dined in the 2nd time Daphne stayed for dinner was very similarly described twice by Daphne pages apart as if she were seeing it for the first time. (The 1st time, they used a room they didn't normally dine in for dinner). This isn't a big deal but it was confusing. Maybe I missed something but I even went back and reread... These things didn't bug me enough to make me want to stop reading but enough so that I'll probably not read the next in the series. From the reviews on the second one, it looks like the editors dropped the ball again.

After reading other reviews, I've come to the conclusion that I missed even more errors in sentence structure probably because I didn't take my time reading it, skimming in many places.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second murder-mystery novel I've read by Joanna Challis. I don't usually read who-done-it books but having read the third in the series (each book can be read separately, I started backwards, read the third one, was happily surprised and intrigued so then I requested the other one my library had which was the first in the series, unfortunately my library doesn't have the second one so it may be a while before I can read it) I was happily surprised. I really liked it and I loved the twist of having Daphne du Maurier as the protagonist. A budding writer (and amateur sleuth who loves a good mystery) Daphne's character is young and full of imagination. Drawn to the Cornish Coast and, magnificent old houses, she can't help but be drawn into the murder-mystery at Padthaway, an amazing grand old estate on the cliffs overlooking the sea, where she discovered a beautiful dead girl who's murder she is determined to solve. Befriending the family of Padthaway she is drawn there time and again, even though she knows she is in the midst of at least one murderer, but who could it be? Again, I enjoyed this story and it kept me enthralled until the very end.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

An intriguing story featuring a young Daphne Du Maurier as the supper sleuth. This story is meant to showcase how a young Daphne came up with her novel REBECCA... a huge dank foreboding estate, a sinister mysterious housekeeper and a handsome and moody Lord of the house. Like many of the books in this genre it pushed me to learn more about Du Maurier. The author of Rebecca, My Cousin Rachel, The Birds... She also had connections to Peter Pan author JM Barrie. The story highlights a family of means and of course a murder! Enjoyed it, 2 other books follow, I did expect that maybe young Daphne would team up with the Major to solve other crimes??? We will have to see in the next book??!

[Lucinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I was browsing books from Goodreads 100 year list, I came across Rebecca this brought me to this work by Challis. It was a read as from the past, although about a murder there were no graphic or gory details, just a pair of missing shoes. It was about the skills and thoughts that went into solving this murder. It was sensitive to those of the loved ones who experienced the loss.

I miss this type of writing for today's is so very brutal!

[Caitlin P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Refreshing read. It's a treasure to find a book not filled with gory details of a murder or explicit sex scenes. Easy, fun, kept me entertained. I fell in love with our heroine. All the characters in the book ( well the good ones anyway) were delightful to meet. I'm excited to pick up the second book in the series.....I love how the author left me hanging on our heroines possible love connection with the Major Browning.

[Angela Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to love this, and I did finish it just to see how it ended, but I won’t be pursuing the rest of the books in the series. The transitions were terrible, when they existed at all, it jumped back and forth between first and third person, and it appeared almost to be a draft, not edited for publication. I love the idea of it, but it just wasn’t well executed.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Because the book was written from the point of view of Daphne du Maurier, I believe the author tried to write in the style of du Maurier. It just seemed to be trying a bit too hard. It was the first in the series so it may improve, but it didn’t really work for me.

[Christine Mathieu · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a nice novel, written in DuMaurier's writing style.
It took me close to 100 pages to get into it, but then it was rather compelling.
Now I'm reading the 2nd and 3rd Daphne DuMaurier Mystery by Joanna Challis.

[Elizabeth Raimondo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was ok. Started great at first and then was dull. Predictable with a surprise turn at the end. Story was Ok. I think there should have been more detail about the characters. The story skipped around too much with so many characters to make the mystery work.

[mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very odd word-choices. Did she sit with a thesaurus?
Thin mystery, unbelievable shifts.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt like the book bogged down in the middle. Started out great but...

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars