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The Skeleton in the Closet
Fellworth Dolphin, 37, finds out his miserly dominating late parents hid a fortune in the bank, and in cash. Fell teams up with plain waitress Maggie to investigate an unsolved 1977 train robbery his father may have comitted, and the aristocratic home he is named after. Someone tries to murder them. Will they find love or death?
262 pages, Paperback
First published March 21, 2001
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1263 people want to read
About the author
M.C. Beaton
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Learn more on her website!
Marion Chesney Gibbons
aka: Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, Marion Chesney, Charlotte Ward, Sarah Chester.
Marion Chesney was born on 1936 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, and started her first job as a bookseller in charge of the fiction department in John Smith & Sons Ltd. While bookselling, by chance, she got an offer from the Scottish Daily Mail to review variety shows and quickly rose to be their theatre critic. She left Smith’s to join Scottish Field magazine as a secretary in the advertising department, without any shorthand or typing, but quickly got the job of fashion editor instead. She then moved to the Scottish Daily Express where she reported mostly on crime. This was followed by a move to Fleet Street to the Daily Express where she became chief woman reporter. After marrying Harry Scott Gibbons and having a son, Charles, Marion went to the United States where Harry had been offered the job of editor of the Oyster Bay Guardian. When that didn’t work out, they went to Virginia and Marion worked as a waitress in a greasy spoon on the Jefferson Davies in Alexandria while Harry washed the dishes. Both then got jobs on Rupert Murdoch’s new tabloid, The Star, and moved to New York.
Anxious to spend more time at home with her small son, Marion, urged by her husband, started to write historical romances in 1977. After she had written over 100 of them under her maiden name, Marion Chesney, and under the pseudonyms: Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, Charlotte Ward, and Sarah Chester, she getting fed up with 1714 to 1910, she began to write detectives stories in 1985 under the pseudonym of M. C. Beaton. On a trip from the States to Sutherland on holiday, a course at a fishing school inspired the first Constable Hamish Macbeth story. They returned to Britain and bought a croft house and croft in Sutherland where Harry reared a flock of black sheep. But Charles was at school, in London so when he finished and both tired of the long commute to the north of Scotland, they moved to the Cotswolds where Agatha Raisin was created.
Learn more on her website!
Marion Chesney Gibbons
aka: Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, Marion Chesney, Charlotte Ward, Sarah Chester.
Marion Chesney was born on 1936 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, and started her first job as a bookseller in charge of the fiction department in John Smith & Sons Ltd. While bookselling, by chance, she got an offer from the Scottish Daily Mail to review variety shows and quickly rose to be their theatre critic. She left Smith’s to join Scottish Field magazine as a secretary in the advertising department, without any shorthand or typing, but quickly got the job of fashion editor instead. She then moved to the Scottish Daily Express where she reported mostly on crime. This was followed by a move to Fleet Street to the Daily Express where she became chief woman reporter. After marrying Harry Scott Gibbons and having a son, Charles, Marion went to the United States where Harry had been offered the job of editor of the Oyster Bay Guardian. When that didn’t work out, they went to Virginia and Marion worked as a waitress in a greasy spoon on the Jefferson Davies in Alexandria while Harry washed the dishes. Both then got jobs on Rupert Murdoch’s new tabloid, The Star, and moved to New York.
Anxious to spend more time at home with her small son, Marion, urged by her husband, started to write historical romances in 1977. After she had written over 100 of them under her maiden name, Marion Chesney, and under the pseudonyms: Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, Charlotte Ward, and Sarah Chester, she getting fed up with 1714 to 1910, she began to write detectives stories in 1985 under the pseudonym of M. C. Beaton. On a trip from the States to Sutherland on holiday, a course at a fishing school inspired the first Constable Hamish Macbeth story. They returned to Britain and bought a croft house and croft in Sutherland where Harry reared a flock of black sheep. But Charles was at school, in London so when he finished and both tired of the long commute to the north of Scotland, they moved to the Cotswolds where Agatha Raisin was created.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 391 reviews
December 31, 2017
This book started of slow, got to so many chapters and it picked up, I so wanted to get it read to see what happens.
The chapters were a bit on the long side though.
The chapters were a bit on the long side though.
July 1, 2021
Thoroughly enjoyable. Clean, light romance, with mystery. Great narration in audible copy.
June 30, 2019
This trim little mystery is set in England. The two protagonists are a couple who're made for each other although their romance progresses in its own deliberative way. Some of the secondary characters are amusing (Aunt Agatha), and I liked the setting.
February 6, 2017
2 stars
Once again, I was fooled by the title.
Fell was a waiter at the Palace Hotel, his parents prevented him from going to university because he had to get a job and earn them a living. When they passed away, the loyer tells him about his huge inheritance. Fell was furious and really mad at his parents. While searching in his mother's wardrobe, he found a photoalbum but no pictures of him when young, only one, with a couple standing in front of a manor with the name "Fellworth", his name. The evening of the funeral, a stranger comes to his house and threatens him, asking for his dad's share after a robery. Adding the two discoveries, Fell starts looking for who he really is and how come his parents had such a huge amount of money.
It wasn't really a mystery, at least not my kind of mystery. The behaviour of Maggie drove me mad, I hate the self-pitying girls who beat themselves up for a dude and do anything for him even if he's first choice blind and can't see it, seriously, the two characters ruined it all for me, even with the happy ending, it was infuriating.
Once again, I was fooled by the title.
Fell was a waiter at the Palace Hotel, his parents prevented him from going to university because he had to get a job and earn them a living. When they passed away, the loyer tells him about his huge inheritance. Fell was furious and really mad at his parents. While searching in his mother's wardrobe, he found a photoalbum but no pictures of him when young, only one, with a couple standing in front of a manor with the name "Fellworth", his name. The evening of the funeral, a stranger comes to his house and threatens him, asking for his dad's share after a robery. Adding the two discoveries, Fell starts looking for who he really is and how come his parents had such a huge amount of money.
It wasn't really a mystery, at least not my kind of mystery. The behaviour of Maggie drove me mad, I hate the self-pitying girls who beat themselves up for a dude and do anything for him even if he's first choice blind and can't see it, seriously, the two characters ruined it all for me, even with the happy ending, it was infuriating.
September 5, 2025
Fellworth Dolphin had had a miserable childhood and after the death of his father his miserly mother had him working as a waiter to support her. But when she died suddenly, Fell found himself in possession of a small fortune.
He wonders how such an mount of money had been amassed and befriends a somewhat plain work colleague, Maggie Partlett, who attempts to assist him to find out where the money had originally come from. There follows plenty of intrigue with Fell worrying particularly that his father may have been involved in a train robbery when he worked on the railway. In addition he could not find any photographs of his childhood, that is until he uncovers an old album with some unusual photographs within its covers.
The pair begin to investigate and their investigations lead them into danger at every turn. And underneath it all Fell is troubled by his feelings for Maggie; did he really love her or was he simply using her? The relationship runs through the whole book and there is undoubtedly a simmering underlying romance in prospect, even though Fell at one point falls for an older woman who tries to get money from him to support her business.
The police get involved once they discover that Fell and Maggie are looking into the train robbery and then become even more committed to the search for the truth when a dead body is discovered. Meanwhile Fell is very nearly drowned as the action becomes even more fast and furious. And even the superintendent, Dunwiddy, comments, 'Nothing major happens in this town for years and then you pair start poking around in an old crime and all hell breaks loose.' And it sure does!
But eventually the truth is out, Fell discovers his roots, realises how the robbery had been committed and finally settles down very comfortably with Maggie; a very happy ending and a very pleasant and exciting read along the way.
He wonders how such an mount of money had been amassed and befriends a somewhat plain work colleague, Maggie Partlett, who attempts to assist him to find out where the money had originally come from. There follows plenty of intrigue with Fell worrying particularly that his father may have been involved in a train robbery when he worked on the railway. In addition he could not find any photographs of his childhood, that is until he uncovers an old album with some unusual photographs within its covers.
The pair begin to investigate and their investigations lead them into danger at every turn. And underneath it all Fell is troubled by his feelings for Maggie; did he really love her or was he simply using her? The relationship runs through the whole book and there is undoubtedly a simmering underlying romance in prospect, even though Fell at one point falls for an older woman who tries to get money from him to support her business.
The police get involved once they discover that Fell and Maggie are looking into the train robbery and then become even more committed to the search for the truth when a dead body is discovered. Meanwhile Fell is very nearly drowned as the action becomes even more fast and furious. And even the superintendent, Dunwiddy, comments, 'Nothing major happens in this town for years and then you pair start poking around in an old crime and all hell breaks loose.' And it sure does!
But eventually the truth is out, Fell discovers his roots, realises how the robbery had been committed and finally settles down very comfortably with Maggie; a very happy ending and a very pleasant and exciting read along the way.
June 15, 2018
It's not often a book bores me stiff, nor that I give up before finishing it. It's also very uncommon for me to buy an Audible book and return it (thankfully they allow this; if print bookshops did so I would probably have done it a time or two, as well; instead I just pass those on via BookMooch). Unfortunately, this one was an exception to all three of these categories.
The narration was OK - adequate, I suppose, but not sparkling - but nowhere near sufficient to redeem a very unoriginal tale told poorly, mostly from the third-person-limited perspective of a main character whom I could never grow to like, in spite of enduring two-thirds of the book before I gave up on it.
The most frustrating part about this book isn't so much the unoriginality of the plot. I know (from having read many of her Regency romance novels) that Beaton has the capacity to tell a story well, in a way that has the potential of redeeming a thin, boring or trope-ridden plot.
The frustration, for me, lies mainly in the fact that in this case not only is the story told in a dull, often irritating way, with very little originality of plot, when I know Beaton can do better than this, but it's also told by a character (yet another one of this author's creations who has been endowed with a very daft name—Fellworth Dolphin—with an origin story of unnecessary complexity) with whom the author has clearly sympathised themselves, or at least tried to make sympathetic to the eye of the reader, who comes over as not only extremely unsympathetic, but with a central trait of being profoundly self-centred.
I'm sure we were supposed to be rooting for Fell to solve the "mystery" (not much of a mystery) and "get the girl", but I just wanted said young woman to tell him to stop, sit down, shut up and think about something other than himself for five minutes at a stretch. He wasn't even the only character who annoyed me - Beaton's leading lady, Maggie, did plenty of that herself, in her total lack of consistency of character. Not to mention that totally unnecessary love triangle with ulterior motives that was such a blatant & poor-quality plot device to create tension in the relationship for which we were supposed to be cheering (I wasn't. I kept wanting to sit Maggie down and tell her she could do better, and that she shouldn't need to cake herself with make-up to do it).
Just. No. If you want a mystery laced into a romance, try Georgette Heyer, but don't even bother with this book. It's not remotely up to snuff, and the narration can't redeem a turkey this bad. If I could give it zero stars I would have. The narration gets one, the story doesn't get anything.
The narration was OK - adequate, I suppose, but not sparkling - but nowhere near sufficient to redeem a very unoriginal tale told poorly, mostly from the third-person-limited perspective of a main character whom I could never grow to like, in spite of enduring two-thirds of the book before I gave up on it.
The most frustrating part about this book isn't so much the unoriginality of the plot. I know (from having read many of her Regency romance novels) that Beaton has the capacity to tell a story well, in a way that has the potential of redeeming a thin, boring or trope-ridden plot.
The frustration, for me, lies mainly in the fact that in this case not only is the story told in a dull, often irritating way, with very little originality of plot, when I know Beaton can do better than this, but it's also told by a character (yet another one of this author's creations who has been endowed with a very daft name—Fellworth Dolphin—with an origin story of unnecessary complexity) with whom the author has clearly sympathised themselves, or at least tried to make sympathetic to the eye of the reader, who comes over as not only extremely unsympathetic, but with a central trait of being profoundly self-centred.
I'm sure we were supposed to be rooting for Fell to solve the "mystery" (not much of a mystery) and "get the girl", but I just wanted said young woman to tell him to stop, sit down, shut up and think about something other than himself for five minutes at a stretch. He wasn't even the only character who annoyed me - Beaton's leading lady, Maggie, did plenty of that herself, in her total lack of consistency of character. Not to mention that totally unnecessary love triangle with ulterior motives that was such a blatant & poor-quality plot device to create tension in the relationship for which we were supposed to be cheering (I wasn't. I kept wanting to sit Maggie down and tell her she could do better, and that she shouldn't need to cake herself with make-up to do it).
Just. No. If you want a mystery laced into a romance, try Georgette Heyer, but don't even bother with this book. It's not remotely up to snuff, and the narration can't redeem a turkey this bad. If I could give it zero stars I would have. The narration gets one, the story doesn't get anything.
June 9, 2016
An engaging, brisk, stand-alone that embodies most of what I enjoy about Beaton's writing.
Fell and Maggie are an odd pair. Both have been trampled by life, finding solace in reading and chatting over fictional adventures. Little did they ever think they'd be involved in their own mystery investigation.
Maggie is the more likable of the two, blessed with far more common sense than the naive Fell. His imagination fuels the story, while her calm observations keep things grounded and fill in the blanks.
The mystery is years old, and is as much about Fell's upbringing as it is an old train robbery. Details of both are revealed at a quick pace, with the tension further enhanced by several dangerous encounters. Having just read a cozy mystery riddled with unnecessary recaps, I found myself particularly appreciative of Beaton's straightforward style.
The wrap-up was very satisfying, incorporating a resolution to the crimes as well as a What Are They Doing Now for Maggie and Fell. We leave them in an upbeat state, enjoying the (more sedate) adventures they've carved out for themselves in their new lives
Fell and Maggie are an odd pair. Both have been trampled by life, finding solace in reading and chatting over fictional adventures. Little did they ever think they'd be involved in their own mystery investigation.
Maggie is the more likable of the two, blessed with far more common sense than the naive Fell. His imagination fuels the story, while her calm observations keep things grounded and fill in the blanks.
The mystery is years old, and is as much about Fell's upbringing as it is an old train robbery. Details of both are revealed at a quick pace, with the tension further enhanced by several dangerous encounters. Having just read a cozy mystery riddled with unnecessary recaps, I found myself particularly appreciative of Beaton's straightforward style.
The wrap-up was very satisfying, incorporating a resolution to the crimes as well as a What Are They Doing Now for Maggie and Fell. We leave them in an upbeat state, enjoying the (more sedate) adventures they've carved out for themselves in their new lives
September 21, 2016
Light humorous mystery you can read in a day.
August 5, 2022
Schade, das Buch hat mich etwas enttäuscht. Der Titel und der Klappentext klangen ganz amüsant und die ersten Seiten waren auch noch recht unterhaltsam. Beaton hat einen bissigen Humor, das mag man oder nicht. Leider passiert dann sehr wenig. So richtig kann sich das Buch nicht entscheiden, ob es ein Krimi oder eine Liebesgeschichte sein will und ist keines davon wirklich überzeugend. Nicht Fisch und nicht Fleisch. Über weite Teile war es dann langweilig und nur, weil es so dünn ist, habe ich es doch zu Ende gelesen.
March 31, 2023
Kövezzetek meg: nekem nagyon tetszett! Pontosan azt kaptam, amit vártam: csipetnyi rejtélyt, amatőr nyomozást szerethető (ráadásul fiatal) karakterekkel, cotswolds-i környezetet, humort és iróniát, gördülékeny stílust. Az összes klisét és Beatonra jellemző ismertetőjegyet tartalmazza, szóval engem megvett kilóra. Kár, hogy folytatása már nem lesz.
May 27, 2012
I've read a few M>C>Beaon books before, and whilst not exactly a challenge, they have always been amusing.
not so sure about this one... I began to wonder half way through as to the simplicity of the style if it was in fact a kids book...
there was no depth to the characters, they seemed to just go about having crazy/awful/scary things happen, and just drift through it all, stopping for tea and food at appropriate intervals.
there was no mystery at all re train robbery.....
dull book
not so sure about this one... I began to wonder half way through as to the simplicity of the style if it was in fact a kids book...
there was no depth to the characters, they seemed to just go about having crazy/awful/scary things happen, and just drift through it all, stopping for tea and food at appropriate intervals.
there was no mystery at all re train robbery.....
dull book
March 8, 2020
It is not infrequent that mystery novels have an awkward romance—squeezed in between the pages of murder and intrigue—that eventually turns out all bright and sunny, usually after a few minutes of sweet danger (ha, a pun for golden-aged mystery nerds). These can be nice and actually sweet and sometimes nearly interesting though, if you turn too analytical an eye on the literary merit and substance of such subplots, there is not much to them besides a few clumsy exchanges and worried glances and maybe a bout of jealousy before the whole thing is wrapped up in a quick proposal and all smiles. Maybe a sad death scene. Toss of the coin, really.
Now, imagine an entire "mystery" novel that flips the formula is made up 70% of that awkward, empty romance and had a side-plot of a mystery going on. That is The Skeleton in the Closet. If you read the blurb, you hear about a train robbery and danger and adventure and that is true. Those things do show up in the book. And then you hear about the main character, Fell, teaming up with Maggie to solve the case. Sounds like it might be a classic cozy time. Only, Maggie is introduced very nearly from the beginning (before the train robbery surfaces as a plot, she is initially brought in as a coworker who is claimed to be a fiance in that old gag). It takes a few minutes after they have already started the "love" story (and we will get to this) before they introduce the mystery element, and it takes a good long time (past the halfway point) before we start to see danger show up in earnest. Most of the first half of the novel is about Maggie being a dumpy girl that Fell barely notices besides as a sort of matronly-proto-wife to take care of him and Fell being a plain, useless, socially-awkard person that Maggie is madly in love with. Oh, and Maggie is jealous of this older woman who is after Fell, possibly for his money [yet another plot that really seems to go nowhere in the long run].
Eventually, slowly, and somewhat clumsily, the mystery element starts creeping in and taking over and there are car bombs and shootings and folks getting shoved in a river and nosy neighbors and "surprising" "twists" and such, but not really a lot of them. One of those things is never actually explained unless I missed it (in fact, they make a big deal about it being no big deal). There are some throw-away lines about wayward youth and drugs taking over the British heartland that are as pointless as anything, seemingly only there to cause a few older readers to nod sagely. It is a fair mystery, not a great one, but it at least makes sense once it is exposed. As an episode of a longer running mystery show it would have been perfectly fine as a plot, maybe even earning a two parter. In fact, with a couple of the "dun dun dunnnn" moments (like the push into the river) you almost get the feeling that it was being written for a TV adaptation, making a natural commercial break or cliff-hanger [complete with quick resolution].
The big problem with the novel is that the central romance is so...just so. Maggie is alright as a character in places, but spends too much time dolling herself up in makeup [sorry women, you need lots of makeup to warrant a man, here] and worrying about what dress to wear to attract Fell. Fell is too much an ass to be a likable character, often crapping on Maggie excessively and then using her to fill the various holes in his life. One would not feel too bad if Maggie left him by the end, but Beaton spends a lot of time making us feel like we should be invested in their relationship, even citing God as proof they should be together. Once that finally clicks (spoilers, but not really) you feel happy to see two sad sacks finally enjoy some dirty after so much time tripping over their droopy, sad puppy eyes but really, besides being glad that things can move along (not that there is much further than them to go), you are mostly glad that all the turgid, tepid love stumbling was not for nothing.
If you are being generous, you might think Beaton was actually dealing with a pair so impacted by grief and the sufferings of their childhood that they have trouble actually understanding what healthy relationship would look like. And, being honest, this is somewhat true. These are people who had no good role models when it came to lovemake. I accept that. If you are being very generous, you might even think of this as something of a meta-novel, commenting on every such relationship in mystery novels and exposing them for what they are. I would perhaps say this is being too generous.
Being cynical, I cannot help to feel that maybe this was a mystery that did not have quite the oomph it needed to fill out even a somewhat brief book (it is truly a quick read if you can put up with it) and so something that might have originally been meant to fill out a tiny bit of the plot ended up taking the majority.
It does not help that so much of the dialogue is so tepid.* Take one of the climatic lines (edited down to avoid anything like spoilers):
That the novel ends on a jab at badly written mystery novels is...I don't know. Lampshade hanging? Self-hatred? Willful ignorance? An attempt to implore readers to remember that it could be worse? No clue.
All I know is that I enjoyed it for something slight and unchallenging, and am now glad to be getting back to Beaton's many other, better written, novels. She is quite skillful at writing in other places. No idea why it fell so flat, here.
------
* or that the Kindle version has a few weird typos, including several cases where the word "die" has been converted, oddly, to the word "the," which you can guess how this goes down in a damned mystery novel.
Now, imagine an entire "mystery" novel that flips the formula is made up 70% of that awkward, empty romance and had a side-plot of a mystery going on. That is The Skeleton in the Closet. If you read the blurb, you hear about a train robbery and danger and adventure and that is true. Those things do show up in the book. And then you hear about the main character, Fell, teaming up with Maggie to solve the case. Sounds like it might be a classic cozy time. Only, Maggie is introduced very nearly from the beginning (before the train robbery surfaces as a plot, she is initially brought in as a coworker who is claimed to be a fiance in that old gag). It takes a few minutes after they have already started the "love" story (and we will get to this) before they introduce the mystery element, and it takes a good long time (past the halfway point) before we start to see danger show up in earnest. Most of the first half of the novel is about Maggie being a dumpy girl that Fell barely notices besides as a sort of matronly-proto-wife to take care of him and Fell being a plain, useless, socially-awkard person that Maggie is madly in love with. Oh, and Maggie is jealous of this older woman who is after Fell, possibly for his money [yet another plot that really seems to go nowhere in the long run].
Eventually, slowly, and somewhat clumsily, the mystery element starts creeping in and taking over and there are car bombs and shootings and folks getting shoved in a river and nosy neighbors and "surprising" "twists" and such, but not really a lot of them. One of those things is never actually explained unless I missed it (in fact, they make a big deal about it being no big deal). There are some throw-away lines about wayward youth and drugs taking over the British heartland that are as pointless as anything, seemingly only there to cause a few older readers to nod sagely. It is a fair mystery, not a great one, but it at least makes sense once it is exposed. As an episode of a longer running mystery show it would have been perfectly fine as a plot, maybe even earning a two parter. In fact, with a couple of the "dun dun dunnnn" moments (like the push into the river) you almost get the feeling that it was being written for a TV adaptation, making a natural commercial break or cliff-hanger [complete with quick resolution].
The big problem with the novel is that the central romance is so...just so. Maggie is alright as a character in places, but spends too much time dolling herself up in makeup [sorry women, you need lots of makeup to warrant a man, here] and worrying about what dress to wear to attract Fell. Fell is too much an ass to be a likable character, often crapping on Maggie excessively and then using her to fill the various holes in his life. One would not feel too bad if Maggie left him by the end, but Beaton spends a lot of time making us feel like we should be invested in their relationship, even citing God as proof they should be together. Once that finally clicks (spoilers, but not really) you feel happy to see two sad sacks finally enjoy some dirty after so much time tripping over their droopy, sad puppy eyes but really, besides being glad that things can move along (not that there is much further than them to go), you are mostly glad that all the turgid, tepid love stumbling was not for nothing.
If you are being generous, you might think Beaton was actually dealing with a pair so impacted by grief and the sufferings of their childhood that they have trouble actually understanding what healthy relationship would look like. And, being honest, this is somewhat true. These are people who had no good role models when it came to lovemake. I accept that. If you are being very generous, you might even think of this as something of a meta-novel, commenting on every such relationship in mystery novels and exposing them for what they are. I would perhaps say this is being too generous.
Being cynical, I cannot help to feel that maybe this was a mystery that did not have quite the oomph it needed to fill out even a somewhat brief book (it is truly a quick read if you can put up with it) and so something that might have originally been meant to fill out a tiny bit of the plot ended up taking the majority.
It does not help that so much of the dialogue is so tepid.* Take one of the climatic lines (edited down to avoid anything like spoilers):
"The police only want you as an accessory to the robbery. You kill me, it's murder. As it stands, a good lawyer could get you off."And that's meant to be a tense line of danger and adventure. You should see how bad much of the romance dialogue reads. [And one cannot ignore another attempt to get the older reader to nod and rant about society going down the drain]
"No, he couldn't. This is Britain and you get a longer jail sentence for robbery than murder. You're for it."
That the novel ends on a jab at badly written mystery novels is...I don't know. Lampshade hanging? Self-hatred? Willful ignorance? An attempt to implore readers to remember that it could be worse? No clue.
All I know is that I enjoyed it for something slight and unchallenging, and am now glad to be getting back to Beaton's many other, better written, novels. She is quite skillful at writing in other places. No idea why it fell so flat, here.
------
* or that the Kindle version has a few weird typos, including several cases where the word "die" has been converted, oddly, to the word "the," which you can guess how this goes down in a damned mystery novel.
January 26, 2023
The dialog in the book was very Lemony Snicket, but with none of the wit and charm.
August 21, 2009
Back in June I decided to read 100 books by Labor Day, a modest goal I have shattered to bits.
A large percentage of these titles have been by M.C. Beaton, who has two series detectives (Hamish Macbeth and Agatha Raisin) and a few stand-alones.
I really enjoy the Macbeths, though they are formulaic. Agatha Raisin is a little harder to get into; she's kind of a jerk.
This one involves a youngish man — a waiter, an virgin and a man who has never left his small London exurb — and whose life goes topsy-turvy when his parents die and he learns he is rich.
Along the way we have ancient train robberies, police skulduggeries, evil beauty shop owners, obnoxious journos and lots of redecorating.
This is fun and breezy. A perfect way to while away a couple of hours.
A large percentage of these titles have been by M.C. Beaton, who has two series detectives (Hamish Macbeth and Agatha Raisin) and a few stand-alones.
I really enjoy the Macbeths, though they are formulaic. Agatha Raisin is a little harder to get into; she's kind of a jerk.
This one involves a youngish man — a waiter, an virgin and a man who has never left his small London exurb — and whose life goes topsy-turvy when his parents die and he learns he is rich.
Along the way we have ancient train robberies, police skulduggeries, evil beauty shop owners, obnoxious journos and lots of redecorating.
This is fun and breezy. A perfect way to while away a couple of hours.
February 22, 2019
349:14minsDescription: Fellworth Dolphin, 38, finds out his miserly dominating late parents hid a fortune in the bank, and in cash. Fell teams up with plain waitress Maggie to investigate an unsolved 1977 train robbery his father may have committed, and the aristocratic home he is named after. Someone tries to murder them. Will they find love or death?
February 6, 2014
I was hoping this would be a fun new series like the Hamish series, but it was more like the Agatha Raisin series: whiny, shallow characters who have more on-again/off-again crushes than middle school girls.
March 24, 2014
Different and a stand alone book from the author. I enjoyed it very much. It's really about appreciating, then finding or rather seeing what was in front of you all along. The sleuthing was fun as well. Nice ending, if predictable, and nice change of pace.
May 22, 2022
Ezer éve olvastam M.C. Beatont, az Agatha Raisin első részét, ami nagyon bejött, de ki tudja miért, sose folytattam. Most egy egyedülálló kötete akadt a kezembe a szerzőnek, nem a sorozatok közül való, és gondoltam, miért is ne olvashatnék egy kis habkönnyű krimit. Merthogy ez tényleg az - sőt, már-már bárgyú is néha, olyan egyszerű és naiv az egész, sok-sok butácska részlettel, amik helyett lehetett volna még bonyolítani a bonyolítanivalót inkább. Temérdek sok rész szól arról, hogy megéheznek és enni mennek, vagy zuhanyoznak, vagy még gyorsan ezt vagy azt csinálnak, mielőtt amazt megcsinálnák. Ajánlom ezt a könyvet azoknak, akik panaszkodni szoktak, hogy a szereplők sosem pisilnek a könyvekben. :D Ezek a részletek szerintem totál feleslegesek, de szó mi szó, a jó kis evészetekről azért nem volt rossz olvasni, tetszett, hogy mindig mennek valamit harapni. ;)
A főszereplő, Fellworth Dolphin, nagyon szerény körülmények közt tengette életét, szüleit kisegítve pincérkedett a tanulás helyett. Amikor édesanyja is elhalálozik, kiderül azonban, hogy rengeteg pénzt örököl... Miért ültek a szülők ezen a vagyonon, és honnan származik? Képbe kerül egy régi vonatrablás is, és Fellworth elkezd nyomozni az ügyben. Vajon köze volt a rabláshoz az apjának is?
Kedves kis kaland, ahol keveredik a már említett bárgyúskodás, és a fájdalmasan faék gondolatmenetek az életveszélyes szituációkkal - hiszen a múlt megbolygatása mindig veszélyes, főleg, ha bűntény is van a háttérben...
A címe teljesen érthetetlen, hogy miért Egy holttest és más semmi?... Legfeljebb Fell anyjának holttestére utalhat. Valami romantikusabb címet is kaphatott volna, ha már vonatrablás, és Maggie és Fell szerelme van a középpontban.
Könnyed, nagyon egyszerű (jó és rossz értelmében is a szónak) könyv, nyári kikapcsolódásnak oké, de Beatontól azt hiszem inkább Agatha Raisin, és inkább angolul. :)
A főszereplő, Fellworth Dolphin, nagyon szerény körülmények közt tengette életét, szüleit kisegítve pincérkedett a tanulás helyett. Amikor édesanyja is elhalálozik, kiderül azonban, hogy rengeteg pénzt örököl... Miért ültek a szülők ezen a vagyonon, és honnan származik? Képbe kerül egy régi vonatrablás is, és Fellworth elkezd nyomozni az ügyben. Vajon köze volt a rabláshoz az apjának is?
Kedves kis kaland, ahol keveredik a már említett bárgyúskodás, és a fájdalmasan faék gondolatmenetek az életveszélyes szituációkkal - hiszen a múlt megbolygatása mindig veszélyes, főleg, ha bűntény is van a háttérben...
A címe teljesen érthetetlen, hogy miért Egy holttest és más semmi?... Legfeljebb Fell anyjának holttestére utalhat. Valami romantikusabb címet is kaphatott volna, ha már vonatrablás, és Maggie és Fell szerelme van a középpontban.
Könnyed, nagyon egyszerű (jó és rossz értelmében is a szónak) könyv, nyári kikapcsolódásnak oké, de Beatontól azt hiszem inkább Agatha Raisin, és inkább angolul. :)
November 11, 2021
This was the best M.C. Beaton I’ve read. Good story line and ending.
February 16, 2021
For those of us who aren't terribly fond of graphic mysteries, M.C. Beaton's "The Skeleton in the Closet" is totally readable, dare I say close to being cozy (I don't believe any murder can be called cozy). A delightful romp through the European countryside featuring a 40-year old closet virgin and his rather plain-Jane friend who becomes his girlfriend becomes his . . . well, mustn't give too much away. Shortly after his miserly mother's death Fellworth Dolphin learns that he was adopted and that he has been left an enormous amount of money. Was his late father involved in a train robbery decades earlier, and did his adoptive parents squirrel away that stolen money while insisting that Fell not only give up his dreams of attending university, but that he start work immediately to support his family? What other secrets did they hide from him? Who were his birth parents? How did he come to be adopted? And where did the locked box in his late father's desk full of cash come from? Oh dear, Fell has been left with too many questions and no answers until his friend helps him start digging into the clues. And then, intruders, murderers, attempted murders, cover-ups, uncooperative associates, and much more. No graphic sexual content or gore. Recommended for all mystery readers.
April 30, 2021
I'm not sure why I read this. Strike that. I know why I read it. It was mystery that ran about 200 pages and I wanted something short.
What a mistake! Although I did finish the darn thing. Some how.
Beaton's lead male Fellworth Dolphin had to be the most naïve, witless, dejected, dreary, sad, and wretched male character it has ever been my misfortune to read about. For most of the book I wished I could grab him by the collar and shout "GET A clue!" In the final 50 or so pages he grew a small pair but I still felt he was one of the squishiest characters I had ever read about.
And then there was Maggie, a striking woman who had the hots for Fell (for some strange reason). She really deserved better. She had her own set of anxieties and self-esteem challenges but I liked her better than Fell that's for sure.
And where in the world did M.C. Beaton get the names of her characters? Fred Flint? You've got to be kidding me.
Quite frankly, I had no interest in whether they solved the mystery - whatever that mystery was. Were they trying to solve an old train robbery, clear Fell's dad from a train robbery, figure out who a murderer was, or where Fell got all of his unexpected wealth? Just silly.
I guess I am just not someone who wants to read cozy mysteries.
What a mistake! Although I did finish the darn thing. Some how.
Beaton's lead male Fellworth Dolphin had to be the most naïve, witless, dejected, dreary, sad, and wretched male character it has ever been my misfortune to read about. For most of the book I wished I could grab him by the collar and shout "GET A clue!" In the final 50 or so pages he grew a small pair but I still felt he was one of the squishiest characters I had ever read about.
And then there was Maggie, a striking woman who had the hots for Fell (for some strange reason). She really deserved better. She had her own set of anxieties and self-esteem challenges but I liked her better than Fell that's for sure.
And where in the world did M.C. Beaton get the names of her characters? Fred Flint? You've got to be kidding me.
Quite frankly, I had no interest in whether they solved the mystery - whatever that mystery was. Were they trying to solve an old train robbery, clear Fell's dad from a train robbery, figure out who a murderer was, or where Fell got all of his unexpected wealth? Just silly.
I guess I am just not someone who wants to read cozy mysteries.
August 19, 2011
Having not read any of this kind of "cozy mystery" type books before I wasn't sure what to expect. The result was an easy to read, unchallenging, straightforward mystery story. You won't find anything earth shattering in this book but at the same time it is perfectly readable on a rainy afternoon with a cuppa.
The story follows Fellworth Dolphin after the death of his mother. He comes into money he never knew his parents had and starts to discover that his family has "skeletons in the closet" and, along with his "fiance" Maggie tries to unearth the events connected to his inheritance.
The book loses stars because the plot is fairly predictable and is rushed in some places. I also found Fellworth annoying. He came across as a whiny, petulant, ungrateful person and I found it hard to believe Maggie's constant adoration for him.
It was an OK book and does the job if you want a quick uncomplicated read but it has not inspired me to read any more books by this author.
The story follows Fellworth Dolphin after the death of his mother. He comes into money he never knew his parents had and starts to discover that his family has "skeletons in the closet" and, along with his "fiance" Maggie tries to unearth the events connected to his inheritance.
The book loses stars because the plot is fairly predictable and is rushed in some places. I also found Fellworth annoying. He came across as a whiny, petulant, ungrateful person and I found it hard to believe Maggie's constant adoration for him.
It was an OK book and does the job if you want a quick uncomplicated read but it has not inspired me to read any more books by this author.
October 9, 2020
Surprised this was written in 2002. Was expecting 70’s-80’s, with the focus on how contact lenses and losing weight is what makes a girl desirable. And then if she’s suddenly desirable, skinny and without eyeglasses, then the man who doesn’t appreciate her can’t stand for anyone else to pay attention to her.
Gag.
The male protagonist is a whiny, selfish ass. The female protagonist is the object provided for him to complete his character arc.
MC Beaton is generally entertaining, even though she’s the most tell-and-don’t-show author I can think of. But there wasn’t enough of anything good to offset the shallow characters.
Gag.
The male protagonist is a whiny, selfish ass. The female protagonist is the object provided for him to complete his character arc.
MC Beaton is generally entertaining, even though she’s the most tell-and-don’t-show author I can think of. But there wasn’t enough of anything good to offset the shallow characters.
September 3, 2019
This book was stupid. It had potential — a pretty decent mystery, in fact — but the characters made really stupid decisions and their dialogue was out of a learning-to-read textbook. It gets a pity star because I do like the author’s other writing. But this was not a winner.
September 9, 2011
Utter crap. There´s nothing else to say.
February 14, 2012
A cliched & predictable read. I much prefer her "Hamish Macbeth" series.
June 27, 2015
Easy to read, though at times I thought our heroine should give Fellworth a kick.
September 23, 2019
DNF.
Bored me to death.
Bored me to death.
April 7, 2022
Listened to April 2022
I'm not really sure that it's fair of me to review this book. We listened to it while travelling recently & it did having me nodding off on more than one occasion (FYI I wasn't the driver!).
Overall, I thought it a poor offering, lacking the quaint charm of the early Agatha Raisins - although those too grate on me these days. Here the writing style is also basic, (is too harsh to say with an almost childlike simplicity at times? Sorry, but that's how it sometimes seemed) & with poor dialogue that was often dated & could have put the setting back to any time in the last sixty plus years. Credit to the narrator who did his best to try & generate some life & soul into the rather pathetic characters & their story.
However, there was an episode towards the end, where things were building to a tense climax...at least I think that was the intention....& something happened whereby me & hubby just looked at each other incredulously & absolutely howled with laughter. It's worth a star for that moment alone, shame it was supposed to be a dramatic event not a comic one...
I'm not really sure that it's fair of me to review this book. We listened to it while travelling recently & it did having me nodding off on more than one occasion (FYI I wasn't the driver!).
Overall, I thought it a poor offering, lacking the quaint charm of the early Agatha Raisins - although those too grate on me these days. Here the writing style is also basic, (is too harsh to say with an almost childlike simplicity at times? Sorry, but that's how it sometimes seemed) & with poor dialogue that was often dated & could have put the setting back to any time in the last sixty plus years. Credit to the narrator who did his best to try & generate some life & soul into the rather pathetic characters & their story.
However, there was an episode towards the end, where things were building to a tense climax...at least I think that was the intention....& something happened whereby me & hubby just looked at each other incredulously & absolutely howled with laughter. It's worth a star for that moment alone, shame it was supposed to be a dramatic event not a comic one...
April 1, 2023
It was okay. Phil’s mom finally died, something he just can’t be sorry about that, then he makes up a fiancée and asks Maggie to play his fiancé their romance blossoms as they investigate the source of his inheritance.
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