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Angela Marchmont Mystery #11
The Body on Archangel Beach
Not-quite-newlywed Angela Marchmont is having a belated honeymoon on the idyllic Greek island of Rhodes, but has barely even unpacked her bathing-suit before an unwelcome encounter with the dead body of a young archaeologist draws her into a tangled web of murder and blackmail.
Everyone thinks Roy Cavell drowned accidentally, but after receiving a cryptic note under her door Angela isn’t so sure. Cavell had fallen in love with his employer’s beautiful wife Sophia Delisi, leaving a heartbroken fiancée behind him and creating tensions up at the local archaeological dig. Mrs. Delisi is thought to bring bad luck: superstition has it that any man who gets close to her dies. Was Cavell the latest victim of the curse? But then why has someone been searching his luggage? Who is signalling from up at the acropolis? And why is somebody trying to put Angela out of the way?
When a second body turns up Angela becomes even more determined to find out the truth—despite the additional complications of a rival detective she can’t shake off, a would-be blackmailer who knows the secrets of her past life, and a husband she’d trust more if only he didn’t keep disappearing in the middle of the night.
Investigating a murder wasn’t in Angela's plans, but if she wants to survive her honeymoon she has no choice.
Everyone thinks Roy Cavell drowned accidentally, but after receiving a cryptic note under her door Angela isn’t so sure. Cavell had fallen in love with his employer’s beautiful wife Sophia Delisi, leaving a heartbroken fiancée behind him and creating tensions up at the local archaeological dig. Mrs. Delisi is thought to bring bad luck: superstition has it that any man who gets close to her dies. Was Cavell the latest victim of the curse? But then why has someone been searching his luggage? Who is signalling from up at the acropolis? And why is somebody trying to put Angela out of the way?
When a second body turns up Angela becomes even more determined to find out the truth—despite the additional complications of a rival detective she can’t shake off, a would-be blackmailer who knows the secrets of her past life, and a husband she’d trust more if only he didn’t keep disappearing in the middle of the night.
Investigating a murder wasn’t in Angela's plans, but if she wants to survive her honeymoon she has no choice.
252 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 31, 2023
90 people are currently reading
74 people want to read
About the author
Clara Benson
33 books349 followersClara Benson is the author of the Angela Marchmont Mysteries and Freddy Pilkington-Soames Adventures - traditional English whodunits in authentic style set in the 1920s and 30s. One day she would like to drink cocktails and solve mysteries in a sequinned dress and evening gloves. In the meantime she lives in the north of England with her family and doesn't do any of those things.
If you want to be the first to hear about new releases, and to receive a free, exclusive short story, sign up to her mailing list at clarabenson.com/newsletter.
If you want to be the first to hear about new releases, and to receive a free, exclusive short story, sign up to her mailing list at clarabenson.com/newsletter.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 14, 2023
okay but not great
Story was good but not up to the standard of earlier ones…I found it disappointing. And I so loved all the earlier ones
Story was good but not up to the standard of earlier ones…I found it disappointing. And I so loved all the earlier ones
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December 14, 2025nice series!
August 10, 2023
Another excellent Angela mystery
I enjoyed this next installment of Angela Marchmont, even if her last name has changed. She is one of my favorite amateur detectives - intelligent, refined, and persistent in pursuing the truth. Edgar is good partner for her, as he is also intelligent and refined, though unfortunately with a shaky moral compass. Hopefully, he will stay out of mischief. I do miss the comic relief of Freddie P-S, her reporter friend with whom she only corresponds in this book. I hope there are more Angela books to come after they are settled in the US that might include her daughter Barbara. Maybe Freddie could visit them just when a mystery occurs? Or perhaps Angela indulges in her wish to visit England again, as she briefly expressed in this story, before heading across the pond? Just please write more Angela mysteries, Ms. Benson. (Another FPS would be appreciated, as well).
I enjoyed this next installment of Angela Marchmont, even if her last name has changed. She is one of my favorite amateur detectives - intelligent, refined, and persistent in pursuing the truth. Edgar is good partner for her, as he is also intelligent and refined, though unfortunately with a shaky moral compass. Hopefully, he will stay out of mischief. I do miss the comic relief of Freddie P-S, her reporter friend with whom she only corresponds in this book. I hope there are more Angela books to come after they are settled in the US that might include her daughter Barbara. Maybe Freddie could visit them just when a mystery occurs? Or perhaps Angela indulges in her wish to visit England again, as she briefly expressed in this story, before heading across the pond? Just please write more Angela mysteries, Ms. Benson. (Another FPS would be appreciated, as well).
June 25, 2023
Really enjoyable
I have so enjoyed the Angela Marchmont series and sincerely hope this is not the last, though this was not the best in the series. I was slightly disappointed that it took Angela as long as it did to reach the correct conclusions. Even I guess who it was, though not actually WHO he was. I shall say no more but just give a recommendation to read the book.
I have so enjoyed the Angela Marchmont series and sincerely hope this is not the last, though this was not the best in the series. I was slightly disappointed that it took Angela as long as it did to reach the correct conclusions. Even I guess who it was, though not actually WHO he was. I shall say no more but just give a recommendation to read the book.
June 19, 2023
hooray for more Angela!
So glad another installment was added to this lovely series. I love Angela and Edgar’s relationship, and it’s fun to see them working g together for a change.
More to come??
So glad another installment was added to this lovely series. I love Angela and Edgar’s relationship, and it’s fun to see them working g together for a change.
More to come??
June 22, 2023
so good to have Angela back!
I sure enjoyed reading another mystery with Angela detecting, lots of interesting characters and beautiful scenery. The plot of course twists you about. Really fun!
I sure enjoyed reading another mystery with Angela detecting, lots of interesting characters and beautiful scenery. The plot of course twists you about. Really fun!
June 3, 2023
Worth the wait
At long last Angela is back,she was well worth waiting for. Let's hope it not too long until we meet Angela again.
At long last Angela is back,she was well worth waiting for. Let's hope it not too long until we meet Angela again.
October 1, 2024
Besides having the closure that I thought this book was unnecessary. It took me so many tries and false starts before I finally finished it. And it's not a long book... I just couldn't get into it. It felt so stiff and the tone of the main characters was very different from the previous books. They didn't feel like the same people. This makes sense in light of the fact that the author wrote this book seven years after the previous and 'last' instalment.
In my opinion this book shouldn't have been written. . I'm going to pretend that The Shadow at Greystone Chase was the last book in the series and hope that Clara doesn't write any more Angela Marchmont books.
Do not get me wrong, I loved the series sooo much. It was great and took me out of my reading slump. I fell in love with the characters and their quick wit and sleuthing tendencies. However, this book wasn't needed.
Clara Benson has just introduced me to a new genre that I've always been afraid to read but now I can't get enough of it. I hope I can find another great series like this one pretty soon .
In my opinion this book shouldn't have been written. . I'm going to pretend that The Shadow at Greystone Chase was the last book in the series and hope that Clara doesn't write any more Angela Marchmont books.
Do not get me wrong, I loved the series sooo much. It was great and took me out of my reading slump. I fell in love with the characters and their quick wit and sleuthing tendencies. However, this book wasn't needed.
Clara Benson has just introduced me to a new genre that I've always been afraid to read but now I can't get enough of it. I hope I can find another great series like this one pretty soon .
January 1, 2024
Very entertaining and a much appreciated return to a great character and well-told tale!
I had read all the Angela Marchmont books and, like many others, was disappointed but resigned when Ms Benson felt Angela and her sleuthing had run her course. A character is after all the creation of the author, and it is always their right and indeed prerogative to stop writing when the character starts to no longer inspire new stories. However, I'm very glad that Ms Benson was encouraged or inspired to resurrect Angela Merivale (formerly Marchmont), as I found myself getting quickly swept into the story and appreciating anew the character created in Angela: her intelligence, her candid and rueful awareness of her own failings. Whereas her nephew Freddie is far less interesting and appealing (and less plausible), Angela rings true in the depiction of her character. I also greatly appreciated the way in which the story was crafted. To sum up, I really enjoyed this possible one-off resurrection tale and wouldn't mind if Angela went onto have further adventures with Edgar at least once a year or every other year. Please? :)
I had read all the Angela Marchmont books and, like many others, was disappointed but resigned when Ms Benson felt Angela and her sleuthing had run her course. A character is after all the creation of the author, and it is always their right and indeed prerogative to stop writing when the character starts to no longer inspire new stories. However, I'm very glad that Ms Benson was encouraged or inspired to resurrect Angela Merivale (formerly Marchmont), as I found myself getting quickly swept into the story and appreciating anew the character created in Angela: her intelligence, her candid and rueful awareness of her own failings. Whereas her nephew Freddie is far less interesting and appealing (and less plausible), Angela rings true in the depiction of her character. I also greatly appreciated the way in which the story was crafted. To sum up, I really enjoyed this possible one-off resurrection tale and wouldn't mind if Angela went onto have further adventures with Edgar at least once a year or every other year. Please? :)
June 14, 2024
I was overjoyed to find a new Angela Marchmont mystery. I'd resigned myself to the end of her adventures, and I do love the Freddie Pilkington-Soames stories that took up where her tales ended, but nothing beats the Angela Marchmont books. (If I still read paper books, the series would be dog-eared from the number of times I've re-read them!)
Even though it was almost too easy to ferret out the murderer in this novel, the fun lay in the labyrinthine twists and turns of the story, and watching Angela and Edgar (mostly Angela) figure it all out. Clues abounded, but so did red herrings. As always in Clara Benson's books, the characters are vivid and the locale described in intimate detail. The writing is excellent; dialogue is often fresh and snappy. Best of all in this book was not watching Angela unspool the murders, but seeing her navigate her new marriage to Edgar. They are well-matched despite his rather cavalier attitude toward good and evil.
Can't wait for another in the series!
Even though it was almost too easy to ferret out the murderer in this novel, the fun lay in the labyrinthine twists and turns of the story, and watching Angela and Edgar (mostly Angela) figure it all out. Clues abounded, but so did red herrings. As always in Clara Benson's books, the characters are vivid and the locale described in intimate detail. The writing is excellent; dialogue is often fresh and snappy. Best of all in this book was not watching Angela unspool the murders, but seeing her navigate her new marriage to Edgar. They are well-matched despite his rather cavalier attitude toward good and evil.
Can't wait for another in the series!
July 9, 2023
A new Angela story! Oh joy of joys! Not that I don’t love Freddy too, but there’s just something about Angela that appeals to me. This picks up the story as Edgar, now a reformed character, is released from prison, and the two take off for a somewhat delayed honeymoon. They end up on the island of Rhodes, and wouldn’t you just know it, almost immediately Angela encounters a body…
From then on, she’s in full swing exercising her detecting skills, sleuthing round their hotel and the nearby coves and beaches, investigating the archaeological dig going on, and surreptitiously interviewing likely suspects and putting two and two together to make… well, not four. Not for a long time, anyway. The hotel is populated with exactly the sort of eccentric characters that anyone familiar with Agatha Christie will enjoy — the irascible invalid, her busy-body nurse, the supercilious archaeologist and his exceptionally beautiful wife, the young men in love with said wife, the downtrodden juniors at the dig and the pesky American as determined as Angela to uncover the mysteries, and generally getting in the way.
And of course there’s Edgar, supposedly now living a blameless life, but disappearing on mysterious errands of his own and getting embroiled with the locals. Not that Angela is finding married life terribly easy herself. This is all delicious, and I loved every last word of it, and especially so because I actually guessed the villain at a very early stage, which I never normally do (I invariably fall for the red herrings) so I’m exceptionally chuffed with myself.
I hope Clara Benson writes more Angela stories in the future, as well as Freddy. I like them both, but there’s always been that little edge to Angela because of her unconventional past, and now there’s Edgar’s unconventional past, too. Freddy is great fun and one can’t help but love him, but he’s such a straightforward character. He has no secret depths to be revealed (although if I’m wrong about that, I’ll be delighted). Whether this is a one-off or the start of a new lease of sleuthing life for Angela (and Edgar), I loved it unreservedly. Five stars.
From then on, she’s in full swing exercising her detecting skills, sleuthing round their hotel and the nearby coves and beaches, investigating the archaeological dig going on, and surreptitiously interviewing likely suspects and putting two and two together to make… well, not four. Not for a long time, anyway. The hotel is populated with exactly the sort of eccentric characters that anyone familiar with Agatha Christie will enjoy — the irascible invalid, her busy-body nurse, the supercilious archaeologist and his exceptionally beautiful wife, the young men in love with said wife, the downtrodden juniors at the dig and the pesky American as determined as Angela to uncover the mysteries, and generally getting in the way.
And of course there’s Edgar, supposedly now living a blameless life, but disappearing on mysterious errands of his own and getting embroiled with the locals. Not that Angela is finding married life terribly easy herself. This is all delicious, and I loved every last word of it, and especially so because I actually guessed the villain at a very early stage, which I never normally do (I invariably fall for the red herrings) so I’m exceptionally chuffed with myself.
I hope Clara Benson writes more Angela stories in the future, as well as Freddy. I like them both, but there’s always been that little edge to Angela because of her unconventional past, and now there’s Edgar’s unconventional past, too. Freddy is great fun and one can’t help but love him, but he’s such a straightforward character. He has no secret depths to be revealed (although if I’m wrong about that, I’ll be delighted). Whether this is a one-off or the start of a new lease of sleuthing life for Angela (and Edgar), I loved it unreservedly. Five stars.
May 28, 2024
This is my first book from this author and it made me curious to pick up another one from this series. The book meanders a bit but overall it is quite a fast read ("audio-read" in my case, great narration). My only issue was that at a times the protagonist doesn't seem as clever as the author wants to portray her.
I guessed the murderer half way thru but still I got engaged to find out the reasons. Not a bad book if you like this kind of "close circle mystery books".
I guessed the murderer half way thru but still I got engaged to find out the reasons. Not a bad book if you like this kind of "close circle mystery books".
September 16, 2024
And they lived happily ever after
Until the next book, I hope! Angela and Edgar are on a much delayed honeymoon, which of course is interrupted by murder. Everyone has secrets, and plenty of people had motivation, but who actually did it? Lots of fun, well written, and a nice view into how Angela and Edgar work out their relationship.
Until the next book, I hope! Angela and Edgar are on a much delayed honeymoon, which of course is interrupted by murder. Everyone has secrets, and plenty of people had motivation, but who actually did it? Lots of fun, well written, and a nice view into how Angela and Edgar work out their relationship.
June 1, 2023
Lovely, beautiful, charming! It is so great to see Angela again, I love her relationship with Edgar and everything in this novel made me swoon.
September 11, 2024
Didn't finish. Voices too annoying
October 4, 2025
Another pleasant cosy mystery
Clara Benson's books make for easy and pleasant reading. This one was not difficult to work out but was fun nonetheless.
Clara Benson's books make for easy and pleasant reading. This one was not difficult to work out but was fun nonetheless.
December 1, 2023
Hmm... not the best of the series.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews