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Jemima Shore
Jemima Shore's First Case: And Other Stories
A gourmet collection of Antonia Fraser's short stories of suspense and mystery. There are five Jemima Shore tales, including her first case, which took place when she was fifteen and still at her convent school, the school featured later in Jemima's career in Quiet as a Nun . Jemima is at her sparkling best as she solves the case of the Parr children in a remote corner of the Scottish Highlands and elegantly deals with the case of the missing bride on a romantic Venetian honeymoon. Nor is she afraid to get wet at the Holland Pools where in-laws feud and plot. Relatives are also closely involved in the murder at Arcangelo's Salon, where Jemima has her hair done.... Among other riches are four "true crime" stories and four mysteries, ending with a sophisticated tale about a group of friends holidaying in Tuscany.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
8 people are currently reading
109 people want to read
About the author
Antonia Fraser
183 books1,496 followersAntonia Fraser is the author of many widely acclaimed historical works, including the biographies Mary, Queen of Scots (a 40th anniversary edition was published in May 2009), Cromwell: Our Chief of Men, King Charles II and The Gunpowder Plot (CWA Non-Fiction Gold Dagger; St Louis Literary Award). She has written five highly praised books which focus on women in history, The Weaker Vessel: Women's Lot in Seventeenth Century Britain (Wolfson Award for History, 1984), The Warrior Queens: Boadecia's Chariot, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Marie Antoinette: The Journey (Franco-British Literary Prize 2001), which was made into a film by Sofia Coppola in 2006 and most recently Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King. She was awarded the Norton Medlicott Medal by the Historical Association in 2000. Antonia Fraser was made DBE in 2011 for her services to literature. Her most recent book is Must You Go?, celebrating her life with Harold Pinter, who died on Christmas Eve 2008. She lives in London.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
October 30, 2019
I read a couple of Antonia Fraser's Jemima Shore mysteries back in the day, and remember them as modestly entertaining. I didn't catch the TV serialization of Quiet as a Nun, and at most I saw a single episode of the later TV series Jemima Shore Investigates, with Patricia Hodge in the title role. (By contrast, I'd earlier enjoyed Fraser's biography of Mary Queen of Scots so greatly that it transformed my reading habits: for the next few years historical biographies were a staple of my literary diet. Whatever its scholarly merits -- I can't judge those -- Fraser's biography is a great piece of storytelling.)
So it was nostalgia that recently made me pick up a copy of Fraser's collection Jemima Shore's First Case; also a curiosity as to how these tales might have weathered the years. As a quick summation, I found them . . . well, still just modestly entertaining.
The book contains five tales featuring Jemima Shore, investigative journalist for Megalith Television and part-time amateur sleuth. The first of these, the collection's title story, in fact sees her as still a schoolgirl; it's more of an adventure yarn than a mystery, as the fifteen-year-old Jemima hazards her virginity in the busting of a drugs ring. The pattern of the "mysteries" being broken down through coincidence, lucky observation and the like, rather than yer outright ratiocination, continues through the other four Jemima stories, the best, most ambitious and longest of which is "The Case of the Parr Children."
The eight further entries in the collection are a mixture of supernatural stories and sub-Roald Dahl offerings. At the best these are pretty good -- I much liked "Boots," about a slyly murderous little girl, and especially "On the Battlements," a superbly atmospheric piece slightly let down by a conventionally normative ending. Another fine tale, despite the whopping implausibility at its core, is "The Night Mother." Some of the remaining tales are . . . less good, but none of them are boring.
My copy of the book, picked up second-hand, is a rather curious edition. It claims to be the first printing of the first US edition (Norton, 1987) but clearly isn't -- aside from anything else, it has a 13-digit ISBN. It looks and feels like a POD production, so I'm wondering if it belongs to that period when major publishers were experimenting with keeping low-demand titles in print through POD. A bit of a curio, whatever the case.
So it was nostalgia that recently made me pick up a copy of Fraser's collection Jemima Shore's First Case; also a curiosity as to how these tales might have weathered the years. As a quick summation, I found them . . . well, still just modestly entertaining.
The book contains five tales featuring Jemima Shore, investigative journalist for Megalith Television and part-time amateur sleuth. The first of these, the collection's title story, in fact sees her as still a schoolgirl; it's more of an adventure yarn than a mystery, as the fifteen-year-old Jemima hazards her virginity in the busting of a drugs ring. The pattern of the "mysteries" being broken down through coincidence, lucky observation and the like, rather than yer outright ratiocination, continues through the other four Jemima stories, the best, most ambitious and longest of which is "The Case of the Parr Children."
The eight further entries in the collection are a mixture of supernatural stories and sub-Roald Dahl offerings. At the best these are pretty good -- I much liked "Boots," about a slyly murderous little girl, and especially "On the Battlements," a superbly atmospheric piece slightly let down by a conventionally normative ending. Another fine tale, despite the whopping implausibility at its core, is "The Night Mother." Some of the remaining tales are . . . less good, but none of them are boring.
My copy of the book, picked up second-hand, is a rather curious edition. It claims to be the first printing of the first US edition (Norton, 1987) but clearly isn't -- aside from anything else, it has a 13-digit ISBN. It looks and feels like a POD production, so I'm wondering if it belongs to that period when major publishers were experimenting with keeping low-demand titles in print through POD. A bit of a curio, whatever the case.
February 13, 2017
Only about half of the short stories are actual mysteries featuring Jemima Shore, the dashing reporter and sexy sleuth. The others aren't even mysteries really, more like macabre tales with scenarios such as a young wife who puts the family dog to sleep, a misogynist writer who's represented by a feminist literary agent, and a single mother who has a romance with a bossy ghost in her second-hand Mini. Everything's mildly amusing but none of it's particularly riveting.
August 19, 2020
This is a collection of short stories. The first five are of Jemima Shore. The first is the case that brought her to the world of investigation at age fifteen, while she was a student at a Catholic board school. It seems a student, claiming to be and Italian princess, experiences a “miracle” of which Jemima is suspicious of.
The story “Your Appoint is Cancelled” finds Jemima just returned from filming a story in Morocco and in need of the services of her stylist, Mr. Leo. Checking her messages she find a recording that states, “This is Arcangelo’s Salon, Epiphany speaking. I am very sorry to inform you that your appointment is cancelled…” over and over. How can that be? She is a regular of Mr. Leo’s!
Later that day, she reads about the murder of a stylist at a fashionable salon. Shortly after that, she receives a phone call from Mr. Leo, who is very upset. The murdered stylist is his son-in-law and Mr. Leo was the one to find the body. The police are looking at Mr. Leo as a prime suspect. It seems the son-in-law was playing around with another woman.
The other stories have a Twilight Zone feel to them. “Death of an Old Dog” is a good example. Ibo is an old dog, a very old dog. He was part of the family when Richard Gavin was married to his first wife. Ibo was family and important to Toddie, Richard’s ten year old son from his first marriage.
Pauline, Richard’s current wife, had taken Ibo to the vet’s. Pauline arrived home, after Richard, without Ibo. It seems the vet was keeping Ibo over night as he didn’t have much “hope for him.” Richard knows that Pauline has taken Ibo to the vet’s to be put down. What does ‘hope’ have to do with Ibo being an old dog?
Pauline claims she took the initiative to make the decision, so that Richard didn’t have to stress over it. It seems she forgot one important thing. Toddie is due home from school the next day, with the expectation of seeing Ibo, “the best dog in the whole world.” What is to be the outcome when Toddie is told of Ibo’s demise?
The end is as I write — a touch of Twilight Zone.
Each story gives you food for thought…
The story “Your Appoint is Cancelled” finds Jemima just returned from filming a story in Morocco and in need of the services of her stylist, Mr. Leo. Checking her messages she find a recording that states, “This is Arcangelo’s Salon, Epiphany speaking. I am very sorry to inform you that your appointment is cancelled…” over and over. How can that be? She is a regular of Mr. Leo’s!
Later that day, she reads about the murder of a stylist at a fashionable salon. Shortly after that, she receives a phone call from Mr. Leo, who is very upset. The murdered stylist is his son-in-law and Mr. Leo was the one to find the body. The police are looking at Mr. Leo as a prime suspect. It seems the son-in-law was playing around with another woman.
The other stories have a Twilight Zone feel to them. “Death of an Old Dog” is a good example. Ibo is an old dog, a very old dog. He was part of the family when Richard Gavin was married to his first wife. Ibo was family and important to Toddie, Richard’s ten year old son from his first marriage.
Pauline, Richard’s current wife, had taken Ibo to the vet’s. Pauline arrived home, after Richard, without Ibo. It seems the vet was keeping Ibo over night as he didn’t have much “hope for him.” Richard knows that Pauline has taken Ibo to the vet’s to be put down. What does ‘hope’ have to do with Ibo being an old dog?
Pauline claims she took the initiative to make the decision, so that Richard didn’t have to stress over it. It seems she forgot one important thing. Toddie is due home from school the next day, with the expectation of seeing Ibo, “the best dog in the whole world.” What is to be the outcome when Toddie is told of Ibo’s demise?
The end is as I write — a touch of Twilight Zone.
Each story gives you food for thought…
January 13, 2019
This is a short book at less than 200 pages with 13 stories and most have unexpected twists at the end. There 5 that feature Jemima Shore with the others being stand alone tales. It was written in the 1980's and they are set in England for the most part. I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it for anyone who likes a murder and crime mysteries that are not too violent.
November 5, 2020
A few okay stories and a few stories that made me say, “Huh?” Jemima Shore is only in about half of them, and I will say that she’s easier to take in short story form than in a full-length novel. Overall, pretty dated and not that great.
November 7, 2020
Most enjoyable
June 28, 2025
I enjoyed the five Jemima stories, but I thought the others were rather bizarre or macabre, especially since I'm not familiar with that genre.
March 16, 2015
"A gourmet collection of Antonia Fraser's short stories of suspense and mystery. There are five Jemioma Shore tales, including her first case, which took place when she was fifteen and still at her convent school, the school featured later in Jemima's career in Quiet As a Nun. Jemima is at her sparkling best as she solves the case of the Parr children in a remote corner of the Scottish Highlands and elegantly deals with the case of the missing bride on a romantic Venetian honeymoon. Nor is she afraid to get wet at the Holland Pools where in-laws feud and plot. Relatives are also closely involved in the murder at Arcangelo's Salon, where Jemima has her hair done ...
"Among other riches are four 'true crime' stories and four mysteries, ending with a sophisticated tale about a group of friends holidaying in Tuscany."
~~front flap
Mildly amusing cozy mysteries, some of which border on the psychological mystery genre, which is not my favorite genre.
"Among other riches are four 'true crime' stories and four mysteries, ending with a sophisticated tale about a group of friends holidaying in Tuscany."
~~front flap
Mildly amusing cozy mysteries, some of which border on the psychological mystery genre, which is not my favorite genre.
Want to read
June 21, 2025Read so far:
Jemima Shore's First Case--2
The Case of the Parr Children--3
Swimming Will Be the Death of You--
Your Appointment Is Cancelled--3
The Girl Who Wanted to See Venice--3
Death of an Old Dog--2
Have a Nice Death--3
*Boots--
*Who Would Kill a Cat?--
Doctor Zeit--
On the Battlements--
The Night Mother--
*Who's Been Sitting in My Car?--
***
The Bottle Dungeon --2
Getting to Know You --
Jemima Shore at the Sunny Grave --2
The Moon Was to Blame--2
Jemima Shore's First Case--2
The Case of the Parr Children--3
Swimming Will Be the Death of You--
Your Appointment Is Cancelled--3
The Girl Who Wanted to See Venice--3
Death of an Old Dog--2
Have a Nice Death--3
*Boots--
*Who Would Kill a Cat?--
Doctor Zeit--
On the Battlements--
The Night Mother--
*Who's Been Sitting in My Car?--
***
The Bottle Dungeon --2
Getting to Know You --
Jemima Shore at the Sunny Grave --2
The Moon Was to Blame--2
December 15, 2012
A series of short stories, some involving Jemima and some not, that solve murders or contemplate them. None stand out, but all are entertaining and quick. Worth a read if you like Jemima Shore, but perhaps not worth the time otherwise. Fun and quick.
January 30, 2015
An intriguing group of short stories. A couple of them feature Jemima Shore; the rest are just rather macabre but interesting plots. I normally enjoy a novel more than stories, but these were very good.
August 19, 2020
Fun, intriguing and sometimes spooky set of short stories some featuring Jemima Shore.
April 9, 2017
There's one word for these stories: creepy (and not in a good way).
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews