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Lydmouth #6
Death's Own Door
Journalist Jill Francis and Inspector Richard Thornhill undertake a baffling investigation of criminal perpetration set against the background of the Welsh border town of Lydmouth in the 1950s.
373 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 18, 2001
About the author
Andrew Taylor
58 books738 followersAndrew Taylor (b. 1951) is a British author of mysteries. Born in East Anglia, he attended university at Cambridge before getting an MA in library sciences from University College London. His first novel, Caroline Miniscule (1982), a modern-day treasure hunt starring history student William Dougal, began an eight-book series and won Taylor wide critical acclaim. He has written several other thriller series, most notably the eight Lydmouthbooks, which begin with An Air That Kills (1994).
His other novels include The Office of the Dead (2000) and The American Boy (2003), both of which won the Crime Writers’ Association of Britain’s Ellis Peters Historical Dagger award, making Taylor the only author to receive the prize twice. His Roth trilogy, which has been published in omnibus form as Requiem for an Angel (2002), was adapted by the UK’s ITV for its television show Fallen Angel. Taylor’s most recent novel is the historical thriller The Scent of Death (2013).
His other novels include The Office of the Dead (2000) and The American Boy (2003), both of which won the Crime Writers’ Association of Britain’s Ellis Peters Historical Dagger award, making Taylor the only author to receive the prize twice. His Roth trilogy, which has been published in omnibus form as Requiem for an Angel (2002), was adapted by the UK’s ITV for its television show Fallen Angel. Taylor’s most recent novel is the historical thriller The Scent of Death (2013).
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
December 7, 2010
It's about this point in a series where I start to cross my fingers when opening a new book because I want the magic to last and I don't want the author to come out with the obligatory dud book yet. Please not this one I'll say to myself.
Also I knew this was the last published book in this series and try as I might my will power wasn't up to leaving it unread on the shelf for more than a few days. Combined with the first point though at least if it did turn out to be not such a good book after all then I wouldn't feel so bad about having reached the end of the line.
Of course it turned out to be a great book and I was pleased to find another Lydmouth book is scheduled to be published later this year. Especially pleased since this one does feel very much like an end of series book. Events in the life of Jill Francis and Richard Thornhill have been building up a head of steam through all the books come to blowing point in this one.
The plot is as competent as ever but it's once again the realism of the way the nineteen fifties is portrayed that stands out. As seems to be usual theres a theme behind everything in the book, here it's the way homosexuality was perceived at the time. I'm really impressed with the way Taylor manages to give people viewpoints that were prevalent at the time and are frankly repugnant today without making the people seem like they are repugnant themselves.
I wonder how much more life there is in the series but I'm pleased that the ongoing plotlines are changing rather than becoming stagnant and i hope that there's quite a bit more of the story to be told.
May 28, 2023
The sixth book in this small town 1950s English detective series turns its attention to DI Thornhill's wife Edith and the time she spent as a young woman with her granny in the nearby small town of Trenalt. Edith travels to Trenalt for the funeral of Rufus Moorcroft, a highly respected member of the local community who committed suicide. It transpires that he was gay and seeking treatment at a local clinic for his 'abnormal' tendencies. Attending the funeral and seeing so many of the people she spent that last summer with brings back some awful memories for Edith, the play she starred in, her unrequited love for Hugh Hudnall and his tragic death, the betrayal, the eccentric characters, and all the secrets.
Could the eccentric Miss Carswell unlock the secret behind Rufus' death, and does it have any link to Hugh's death all those years ago? What does she mean about Constance marrying the White Rabbit and why did she want to call someone in Kent?
Meanwhile a valuable painting owned by Rufus (of Miss Carswell as a young woman), painted by a local artist who is married to Hugh's older sister, has gone missing.
I'm enjoying this series as much for the relationships as for the detection. Nothing ever goes the way the reader expects, no-one is ever wholly good or bad, everyone has secrets, just because someone is unlikable doesn't mean they are a villain.
Could the eccentric Miss Carswell unlock the secret behind Rufus' death, and does it have any link to Hugh's death all those years ago? What does she mean about Constance marrying the White Rabbit and why did she want to call someone in Kent?
Meanwhile a valuable painting owned by Rufus (of Miss Carswell as a young woman), painted by a local artist who is married to Hugh's older sister, has gone missing.
I'm enjoying this series as much for the relationships as for the detection. Nothing ever goes the way the reader expects, no-one is ever wholly good or bad, everyone has secrets, just because someone is unlikable doesn't mean they are a villain.
June 7, 2020
Death's Own Door by Andrew Taylor - Good
Back to Lydmouth. Back to the inter relationships of Inspector Richard Thornhill and local reporter Jill Francis. But what of the Inspector's wife Edith? We rarely see her in the earlier books other than as part of his haphazard home life, but in this book she comes to the fore when there's a death in a local village where she spent her summers as a child. She knows the deceased, she knows the people in his circle and she was involved in the mysteries there when she was a child.
Just for once, the back stories and relationships of the characters didn't get in the way of the story (I'm not that keen on romance mixed in with my crime) but was actually instrinsic and we are nicely tee'd up for the next installment.
Back to Lydmouth. Back to the inter relationships of Inspector Richard Thornhill and local reporter Jill Francis. But what of the Inspector's wife Edith? We rarely see her in the earlier books other than as part of his haphazard home life, but in this book she comes to the fore when there's a death in a local village where she spent her summers as a child. She knows the deceased, she knows the people in his circle and she was involved in the mysteries there when she was a child.
Just for once, the back stories and relationships of the characters didn't get in the way of the story (I'm not that keen on romance mixed in with my crime) but was actually instrinsic and we are nicely tee'd up for the next installment.
October 23, 2024
Unfortunately, Death's Own Door is worse than Where Roses Fade, when it comes to romantic plot lines, a feat I never thought possible. Not only have we the affair between Lydmouth Gazzette deputy editor and journalist, Jill Frances and head of Lydmouth CID, DI Richard Thornhill, we now have DI Thornhill's wife, Edith Thornhill embarking on an extramarital fling with an old flame, in both the present and, as if that's not bad and tediously boring enough, we also have her past reminiscences of an infatuation she held for someone way back in the 1930's! Gee whiz! Talk about romance overload! Oh! Oh! Hold up! Wait a minute......... I'm afraid to say, it DOES NOT end there!
Very much adding insult to injury, we also have Edith Thornhill's cousin and County Councillor, Bernie Broadbent entering into a gay liaison, with yet another of Edith Thornhill's long lost acquaintances, Randolph Haughton, whom has recently purchased a high end magazine called, ’Berkeley’s’ and whom has coincidentally offered our very own Jill Frances a job, as the magazine's features editor. However, this would also mean for Jill, a move out of Lydmouth and back to London. A decision made all the more complicated with Richard's unexpected marriage proposal, but if the new position at the magazine ends the details of their trysts, PLEASE Jill, take the damn job! And speaking of marriage proposals, the cherry on the top of all this unwanted amour doing the rounds, is ladies man and Lydmouth division police 'player', Detective Sergeant Brian Kirby, not only dating WPC Joan Ailsmore, but on the advice of Edith Thornhill, he has sold his motorbike and bought her a diamond encrusted engagement ring!
It's a wonder that this book has room for any crime whatsoever!
The book isn't in the 'crime' genre, as such I’d say, it's that it seems to fall most definitely on the side of a 'romance' novel, with a tiny bit of crime on the side.
Nevertheless, there was marginally some space left over for what the Lydmouth books used to do best, and that was highlight the somewhat shocking and prevailing social attitudes of twentieth century England. In this case, the frightening attitudes towards homosexuality.
Obviously homosexuality was still shockingly illegal in the 1950's, with still well over another decade before this diabolically unfair and highly regressive law was repealed and many, many years more for mainstream attitudes to realise that loving another human being was not some form of henious crime of any description, where even today, there's still a lot of work to do on that front, so it was very pleasing in Death's Own Door, when Jill Frances put her lover, DI Richard Thornhill firmly in his place, with a severe reprimand, when he repeated the homophobic and offensive language and attitude of a knuckle dragging, mindless bigot. Mind you, he is a policeman at heart after all! Joking aside however, it certainly warmed my heart to see that the copper seemed to have thought on Jill’s words, took them on board and concluded that she had indeed, been speaking truth to power.
So let's cross our fingers for more social commentary and crime/murders in the next outing and pray we see the romantic plot lines somewhat diminished, please! For the only person that that state of affairs and endless shagging is pleasing, besides the participants, is the highly egregious Lydmouth Evening Post and tabloid 'wanna be' journalist, Ivor Fuggle!
Oh! I almost forgot, we also had PC Porter back! For ONE bloody sentence mind! But at least we know he’s still there, kicking about, or in his actual case, driving DI Thornhill about. We just remain evermore puzzled as to why his character has been inexplicably dropped like a proverbial stone/mental old woman from a railway tunnel parapet?! Maybe I’ll start a campaign,
**waves placard**
’BRING BACK PC PORTER NOW!‘
Very much adding insult to injury, we also have Edith Thornhill's cousin and County Councillor, Bernie Broadbent entering into a gay liaison, with yet another of Edith Thornhill's long lost acquaintances, Randolph Haughton, whom has recently purchased a high end magazine called, ’Berkeley’s’ and whom has coincidentally offered our very own Jill Frances a job, as the magazine's features editor. However, this would also mean for Jill, a move out of Lydmouth and back to London. A decision made all the more complicated with Richard's unexpected marriage proposal, but if the new position at the magazine ends the details of their trysts, PLEASE Jill, take the damn job! And speaking of marriage proposals, the cherry on the top of all this unwanted amour doing the rounds, is ladies man and Lydmouth division police 'player', Detective Sergeant Brian Kirby, not only dating WPC Joan Ailsmore, but on the advice of Edith Thornhill, he has sold his motorbike and bought her a diamond encrusted engagement ring!
It's a wonder that this book has room for any crime whatsoever!
The book isn't in the 'crime' genre, as such I’d say, it's that it seems to fall most definitely on the side of a 'romance' novel, with a tiny bit of crime on the side.
Nevertheless, there was marginally some space left over for what the Lydmouth books used to do best, and that was highlight the somewhat shocking and prevailing social attitudes of twentieth century England. In this case, the frightening attitudes towards homosexuality.
Obviously homosexuality was still shockingly illegal in the 1950's, with still well over another decade before this diabolically unfair and highly regressive law was repealed and many, many years more for mainstream attitudes to realise that loving another human being was not some form of henious crime of any description, where even today, there's still a lot of work to do on that front, so it was very pleasing in Death's Own Door, when Jill Frances put her lover, DI Richard Thornhill firmly in his place, with a severe reprimand, when he repeated the homophobic and offensive language and attitude of a knuckle dragging, mindless bigot. Mind you, he is a policeman at heart after all! Joking aside however, it certainly warmed my heart to see that the copper seemed to have thought on Jill’s words, took them on board and concluded that she had indeed, been speaking truth to power.
So let's cross our fingers for more social commentary and crime/murders in the next outing and pray we see the romantic plot lines somewhat diminished, please! For the only person that that state of affairs and endless shagging is pleasing, besides the participants, is the highly egregious Lydmouth Evening Post and tabloid 'wanna be' journalist, Ivor Fuggle!
Oh! I almost forgot, we also had PC Porter back! For ONE bloody sentence mind! But at least we know he’s still there, kicking about, or in his actual case, driving DI Thornhill about. We just remain evermore puzzled as to why his character has been inexplicably dropped like a proverbial stone/mental old woman from a railway tunnel parapet?! Maybe I’ll start a campaign,
**waves placard**
’BRING BACK PC PORTER NOW!‘
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 3, 2024
I couldn’t resist reading the next one in the series after When Roses Fade and I wasn’t disappointed.
In the previous books we don’t see much of Richard Thornhill’s wife, Edith, except as a housewife and mother. She is very ambitious for her children, especially her son, David. For example, Edith was left some money and rather than use it as a deposit on a house, as Richard wants, Edith plans to send David to a private school. She seems to see Thornhill as a nuisance who messes up the meal times and bedtimes with his dreary police work. I think one of the first things we learn about her is that she has gone off sex since the children were born, which particularly grieves Thornhill. But this was before Death’s Own Door where we see Edith has a past, that she has an unhappy present as she suspects Thornhill and Jill Francis of having an affair and that she has a future which is for her to decide. It all begins when Edith decides to attend the funeral of someone she knew when she was young, Rufus Moorcroft.
Edith used to stay in a country village with her Granny on a regular basis and always had a nice time. The last occasion she stayed there was very different. A new family, the Hudalls had moved in to the village. There was an older daughter June who seemed obsessed with an unknown artist and a boy a couple of years older than Edith, handsome, intelligent and so, so lovely. Hugh had written a play and asked Edith to appear in it as his leading lady. Rufus Moorcroft was older but always got involved with anything going on in the village so he acted as stage manager. Rehearsals were exciting to Edith. The one and only performance was bliss. But then her whole world came crashing down and before the night was through Hugh was dead. He fell in front of a train while he was assumed to be very drunk. Now years have passed and Rufus has committed suicide. Why now? And are the two deaths linked in some way?
Thornhill is far from on top form in this book. He has decided to leave Edith and the children and move away with Jill. When he asks her, she begs for time to think. Thornhill is on tenterhooks and can think of nothing else when he really needs to concentrate on a very complicated situation. Of course, he is also racked with guilt and wonders how he can do his job when his own moral compass is so skewed. How will this conudrum work itself out. Let me tell you that you are in for a couple of surprises before the end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 15, 2023
I always look forward to the next volume of The Lydmouth Series set in a small English town in the 1950s. I am invested in the relationship between journalist Jill Francis and Detective Richard Thornhill. Trying to balance their passion for each other against the moral dilemma of betraying Richard’s wife Edith has made them convincing characters and now they are trying to keep their secret in a close community buzzing with gossip.
In this book we come to know Edith better when she goes to the nearby village of Trenalt, where she often stayed with her grandmother, for the funeral of a popular war veteran who has committed suicide. There she meets old friends, including Miss Carswell, an eccentric resident of the local asylum and Jack Graig, who is linked to the most painful part of her youth. As the plot develops and there is another death, Edith becomes involved in solving the mystery with more success than her husband, Det. Thornhill. And Jill also connects present events to a tragedy just before the war.
The theme for this volume is the predicament of homosexual men at that time and the repercussions of their secrecy. Despite a slight overload of characters who might be suspects I enjoyed following the threads through to a dramatic scene in the countryside involving three women. Richard Thornhill takes a back seat in this investigation and his relationships are threatened but Edith has become a much more interesting participant. Thank goodness this is not the last episode in their story!
In this book we come to know Edith better when she goes to the nearby village of Trenalt, where she often stayed with her grandmother, for the funeral of a popular war veteran who has committed suicide. There she meets old friends, including Miss Carswell, an eccentric resident of the local asylum and Jack Graig, who is linked to the most painful part of her youth. As the plot develops and there is another death, Edith becomes involved in solving the mystery with more success than her husband, Det. Thornhill. And Jill also connects present events to a tragedy just before the war.
The theme for this volume is the predicament of homosexual men at that time and the repercussions of their secrecy. Despite a slight overload of characters who might be suspects I enjoyed following the threads through to a dramatic scene in the countryside involving three women. Richard Thornhill takes a back seat in this investigation and his relationships are threatened but Edith has become a much more interesting participant. Thank goodness this is not the last episode in their story!
April 15, 2022
DI Richard Thornhill’s wife, Edith, makes an impulsive decision to attend a funeral in the village she grew up in. This not only brings back painful memories, but embroils her in a series of historical liaisons, coverups, and more deaths. Reporter Jill Francis is increasingly uncomfortable as her own liaison comes to light. I love series like this with long slow arcs that build up in intensity over the course of the books: the train wreck we could see coming since book 2 finally occurs and it changes everything. Apart from the intriguing mysteries, I really enjoy this series for it’s frequent small insights into human nature - they are delightful to encounter. Audio narrator Philip Franks is a firm favourite and I loved his performance here.
June 12, 2021
Taylor is a wonderful crime novelist. He untangles a complex plot in a masterly way giving each player in the drama their place and skilfully telling the tale through believable dialogue perfectly paced and judged. In addition he has created Lydmouth in the 1950s as carefully as a scale model with a sense of time and characters that breathe times. The central characters have challenges and lives that need fixing. All in all a great series.
September 23, 2024
This is the 6th of this series I've read and they are all as good as each other - but this one is even better. The atmosphere of these books is so well-done, I feel like I know the town, Lydmouth, they are set in and the people who live there and the 1950s in which they are set. This is all as good as the crime story which takes place.
May 2, 2020
Andrew Taylor is brilliant at evoking the claustrophobic atmosphere of a village and of the time period in which the novels are set. The characters are a bit one-dimensional and self-absorbed, but there's enough here to keep me reading the series.
May 11, 2021
I've not read all in the series but this one brought the characters together on a personal level whilst looking into an apparent suicide in the past and in the present. I found there is another to follow but not sure if I won't leave it there as it ended satisfactorily
August 26, 2021
I don’t think I’ll be listening to anymore of this series. DCI Thornhill has the personality of a postage stamp and he’s a lying, cheating husband willing to leave his children and move to another country. What Jill sees in him is anyone’s guess
October 29, 2023
This one was better than the last one, but whereas the last book was 'people in the 50s being weird about disabled people', this one was 'people in the 50s being weird about gay men'. Excited to find out what people in the 50s will be weird about next!!
November 7, 2023
This series has been consistently strong. In this book the personal and professional become even more tangled up for Thornhill. The author lays false trails cleverly and then hits us with a belter of a twist at the very end. The audio book is particularly fine.
January 2, 2024
Death's Own Door
I love the extraordinary descriptive details that Andrew Taylor uses when writing about the weather, or people and their clothing.
His stories are so original and enigmatic.
I do hope Kill Francis hasn't disappeared for good!
I love the extraordinary descriptive details that Andrew Taylor uses when writing about the weather, or people and their clothing.
His stories are so original and enigmatic.
I do hope Kill Francis hasn't disappeared for good!
March 14, 2019
I really enjoyed this installment which had a case even closer to home than usual for Inspector Thornhill. Am intrigued to see how the rest of the series will go
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May 5, 2021Wonderful
This series is I really enjoyed this book the characters are really well written,I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys crime books.
This series is I really enjoyed this book the characters are really well written,I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys crime books.
December 5, 2024
The lonely old lady
One of your best Andrew Taylor this novel kept me on the edge of my seat I couldn't put it down Brilliant
One of your best Andrew Taylor this novel kept me on the edge of my seat I couldn't put it down Brilliant
April 10, 2025
Charity shop buy as enjoyed the Fire of London series. Very readable whodunnit set in 1950s.
December 26, 2016
The Lydmouth Mysteries series trundles on.
Thornhill's wife gets involved with the investigation of the death of a man she knew in 1938, while her husband Richard and his mistress Jill do a lot of hand-wringing about their affair.
As with all the previous Lydmouth books, Taylor excels at creating the atmosphere of a 1950's village. The lack of privacy, the intolerance and not being able to communicate clearly about feelings. Unfortunately, like with the other books the murder mystery is underwhelming. It's not so much solved by the characters working about what happened, as the villain just confessing everything. Also, the characters of Richard and Jill are irritating in the extreme. Are we as readers, supposed to feel sorry for them, because he won't leave his wife, she can't decide what she wants to do with her life, and they are compelled to have sex in the woods. I give up with them. Even Taylor focusing on Richard's wife doesn't help - it makes the affair more sleazy and selfish. Edith deserves better, yet we're still supposed to hope Richard and Jill live happily ever after? I just don't believe in them, as a couple.
Thornhill's wife gets involved with the investigation of the death of a man she knew in 1938, while her husband Richard and his mistress Jill do a lot of hand-wringing about their affair.
As with all the previous Lydmouth books, Taylor excels at creating the atmosphere of a 1950's village. The lack of privacy, the intolerance and not being able to communicate clearly about feelings. Unfortunately, like with the other books the murder mystery is underwhelming. It's not so much solved by the characters working about what happened, as the villain just confessing everything. Also, the characters of Richard and Jill are irritating in the extreme. Are we as readers, supposed to feel sorry for them, because he won't leave his wife, she can't decide what she wants to do with her life, and they are compelled to have sex in the woods. I give up with them. Even Taylor focusing on Richard's wife doesn't help - it makes the affair more sleazy and selfish. Edith deserves better, yet we're still supposed to hope Richard and Jill live happily ever after? I just don't believe in them, as a couple.
September 3, 2012
Richard's wife, Edith, is involved in this mystery. Edith attends a funeral of someone she knew when she visited her grandmother's home each summer. Involves a lost love, a death of a friend one summer, plus a death that takes place now that her husband is investigating. All the stories converge with Jill in the middle. Jill and Edith finally get acquainted in a way they did not expect. State tuned for the next book......
February 6, 2013
I keep reading Andrew Taylor's Lydmouth mysteries not because I'm particularly enamored of his characters (despite the supposedly passionate love affair between two of the characters, they, like all the others he depicts are strangely bloodless and not particularly memorable) but because his description of a provincial English town in the 1950s is so wonderfully written. I can almost taste the bland food and feel the cold drafts coming through the windows.
July 30, 2009
Andrew Taylor's Lydmouth series, of which this book is installment #5, is one of the best mystery series I have read. Set in Shropshire in the early 1950s, the series is built around the converging careers--and love lives--of the two main characters; a newly hired chief of detectives and a beautiful journalist from London who is seeking refuge in the small town of Lydmouth.
February 15, 2015
I'm steadily working my way through the Lydmouth series. This one was interesting in that it focused on Edith Thornhill (Richard's wife.) And ends up with Jill Francis moving to London. What next?
I find the writing style a bit tiresome -- somewhat slow and repetitive, rather "cozier" than I prefer. But I'll keep going. Want to know what happens in the next book.
I find the writing style a bit tiresome -- somewhat slow and repetitive, rather "cozier" than I prefer. But I'll keep going. Want to know what happens in the next book.
September 4, 2011
Good to get back to Lydmouth after a long break. A bit too much effort to bring Elizabeth into the series, but found the focus on her point of view a bit dull. not quite the right balance between her back story and the crime.
April 18, 2011
Another fascinating novel from Andrew Taylor. The complex marital issues involving the detective and his wife add to the layers of deception and suspense. Highly recommended!
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews