Death Among Friends

by Elizabeth Cadell

To Alison Sinclair the past was dead and Eden Croft forgotten. She had never expected to see him again.

Genres: Mystery, Romance, Fiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Violet Elizabeth Vandyke was born on 10 November 1903 in Calcutta, British Raj, daughter of British parents, Elizabeth Lynch and Frederick Reginald Vandyke, a colonial officer. During the Great War she studied music in London, but refused a musical career and returned to India where she married in 1928 Henry Dunlop Raymond Mallock Cadell, and they had a son and daughter. After she was widowed ten years later, she returned to England.

Elizabeth wrote her first book 'My Dear Aunt Flora' during the Second World War in 1946, there after producing another 51 light-hearted, humourous and romantic books which won her a faithful readership in England and America. In addition to England and India, many of her books are set in Spain, France, and Portugal. She finally settled in Portugal, where her married daughter still lived.

She died on 9 October 1989, aged eighty-five.

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

18 months ago Alison fled from Scotland and is now secretary-companion to an eccentric lady - „Madame” - in London. Madame's nephew, James Maitland, is coming to London for a production of his uncle's play. While waiting for him at the train station, Alison meets an old acquaintance, someone who played part in the events which caused her to escape to London. We don't know exactly what had happened until the last chapters in the novel. The romance aspect doesn't emerge until the very end, either, in fact as all the male characters are rather unlikeable, one has no clue who will be the love-interest. The mystery was well done, I didn't guess who was behind the attempts at murder. To be precise, I did guess, but I wasn't right.

[Sep · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book. It was a page turner, as I used to say before I bought a Kindle. The actions starts right in the middle. The heroine goes to the train station to pick up her employer's nephew and meets a mysterious man from her past who demands to know where she's been for the last 18 months.

Something dreadful happened 18 months ago but the reader does not find out until towards the end. Cadell cleverly gets all of the people involved in the original situation together and then someone keeps trying to kill the heroine.

Clever plot, lots of surprises.

[Jannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the better mysteries

[Hope · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Cadell is known for her light-hearted romances so I was unprepared for this to be a nice little mystery. Really enjoyed it.

[Jim's Fire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read from the past

I love the style of this light mystery and romance, reminds me Mary stewart or Phylis A Whitney, will continue to read others by her.

[Byrd Nash · Rating 3 out of 5]

A frothy piece of nonsense that would be perfect for a light read, but like a meringue cookie holds no substance.

I came late to reading Cadell and she has a huge fan base. If you want something that reads sweet, doesn't take a lot of thought, she is a pleasant way to spend an hour or two.

However, what continually irks me about her books is they start out strong with interesting characters, but a third of the way through devolves into some laughable chasing-your-tail nonsense. This one is a good example of exactly that.

Alison runs away to take a job in London after her fiancée marries a family friend. Her job to an eccentric older woman as secretary-companion gives her 18 months to recover before she is surrounded again by the very people she ran from: Eden (the actor fiancée who dumped her), Margaret (who married her fiancée), and Niall, who helped break up her romance.

Enter James, a relative of the eccentric who only wants to get his uncle's plays produced. This is the love interest but you'd never know because the guy is chasing after a "new slut" actress. This is one line (that seems to be often underlined by readers) that shows how prim and proper Cadell is. Yes, her heroines can be women who work, but in the end they cannot have sex out of marriage, and must be sure to check their intelligence at the door as soon as a he-man appears as the love interest.

Alison really intrigued me in the first third of the book. She walked away, took a job, supported herself, and seems to be a very intelligent and put-together young woman.

The last half of the book is sheer out-loud laughable. As soon as someone starts attempting to murder her she makes some ridiculous life choices. Someone is trying to kill me so I'll go off with a man I hardly know in a car to places no one knows where I'll be. Someone is trying to kill me, that makes it a perfect day to go swimming! Gosh, why would someone kill me? I only have a godmother stuffed with money who I've been told my letters never reached her.

What could have solved this mystery was Alison making a phone call to her godmother and deciding that hanging out with these people wasn't a good idea for her health. That would have taken brains, and Alison checked those at the door.

I also didn't like how they handled Madame. What started out as an interesting character became a screeching "old bitch" (one of the character's words, not mine). So Madame is making money from some rich older men who visit her, but let's trash the actress as a slut? Huh?

There are some witty parts (see highlights) and if you want virginal, sweet and clean, with women who ignore attempts on their life, and rather lukewarm, nice guy heroes, check Cadell out. But realize you'll be left hungry at the end and be desperately looking for something with a bit more weight.

[ladydusk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy, short, set in a specific time and place - one that I enjoy reading but doubt would enjoy living in.

It took quite a while to set up that there was even going to be a mystery. But it got exciting once you realized it had been going on even longer than you understood.

One thing about these mid-Century gothic/suspense romances is that they are very firmly set in a time and place - the language, clothing, actions are all, to some extent, fixed and not understood by the modern reader. Another piece is the way the characters understand subtly implied things that sometimes, as a modern reader, are unfathomable. How did she understand that half a statement? How was he able to fully understand? If I thought it were real, it would set me up for disappointment in my own relationships.

This story did not go where I thought it would - and I think my way could have been a good story - but it was still an enjoyable ride.

I'm so excited to have found a new prolific writer of this type of book. Mary Stewart an Susan Howitch are favorites but their catalogs are limited (and long-ago read by me). Cadell has a large catalog (I don't expect them all to be great), I'm excited to have a long stretch of very light reads available to me.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

romance, intrigue, murder?

Allison was disappointed in love and fled Edinburg for London, leaving her faithless fiancé (a sometime actors her beloved cousin, now engaged to the feckless fiancé, and her dear godmother behind. In London she becomes secretary-companion to the large Norwegian “Madame” and life goes on. Then, Madame’s nephew appears, along with with a long-ago acquaintance of Allison’s, the feckless fiancé and his now wife the ‘cousin’ (really the daughter of the godmother, but the girls were raised together.) they eventually journey towards Edinburgh to debut a play, written by the nephew, starring the feckless fiancé, who is manages by the long ago acquaintance. Someone is attempting to murder Allison, but she can’t figure out how or why. Eventually all is revealed, Allison ends up with the correct young man, the would be murderer comes their just ends. Whew! What a romp!

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a little different from the last few Cadell books I've read. Along with the usual entertaining characters and their various love (or hate) life, a mystery suddenly appears about 3/4 of the way in.
Alison, secretary/companion to the eccentric "Madame", is meeting someone at the train station when she sees her former friend Neil, who broke up her romance with the actor Eden. To add insult to injury, Eden then married Alison's cousin, with whom she was raised. She has left Edinburgh for London to escape the memories of all this. Now Neil is directing a play and Eden is to star in it, and she finds herself in the middle of it all again. I was surprised when the tone changed to threats and mystery, but it only added to the interest. A real page-turner, eventually.

[Debbie Gascoyne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had read this before, I'm sure, but I didn't really remember it, which made reading it more interesting than it might otherwise have been. A long, slow, build-up to the mystery leading to what I thought was a rather rushed ending, but nevertheless a satisfying read, if not, again, in the top rank of Cadell. Anyone familiar with her work would know, despite quite convincing red herrings, who the romantic lead was going to be from the minute he appeared. Unusual for Cadell in the first person narrative, and I like the way that quite a lot was kept secret from us until well into the story.

[George · Rating 2 out of 5]

The sixth Cadell I read in quick succession and the first I didn’t enjoy. Very unusually I found none of the characters likeable and despite the fact that everything revolved around her, the heroine was utterly passive. I was bemused by the fascination that she seemed to produce in virtually every male that met her.

Fortunately immediately afterwards I read Shadow on the Water, which is similar in some ways and thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elizabeth Cadell is one of my favorite authors and this is the first of her books that I haven't loved. What I enjoy most about her books are the likable, if eccentric, characters and the bit of mystery that adds to the fun. In this book the characters were not very likable at all for most of the book and the mystery didn't come in until well past the midpoint. The last third was lovely but getting there, not so much.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Attempted murder? Who among her friends would do such a thing? Darker than usual.

[Miriam · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars. I liked the variety of characters, the mild mystery, and the fact that the hero isn't that great at first, until he steps up when he's really needed.

[Vicki O. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. By today's standards, it might be considered too slow or even dull. I thought the characters were interesting.

[Annie Bowyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable

Nicely woven tale which keeps you guessing, all this author's charm and facility for a good read, plus a dash of suspense

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alison has been living a quiet life for 18 months as a secretary-companion, but change occurred when Neil, Margaret, and Colin came back into her life. They bring with them memories. Is it her imagination, but life also seems more sinister now? Madame's nephew Charles agrees with her when the bullets fly. Why would her childhood companions wish to harm her? Or, which of her childhood companions would wish to harm her? Where is safety?

[Bookgirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. There was a story turn that I did not expect! Very cute, nice light reading. In the same genre as Angela Thirkell, PG Woodhouse & Stella Gibbons.

[Morggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of her best. Nice mix of suspense,mystery and a little romance. Lovely light reading.

[Kathy Keenan]

Not a typical Caddell. Much more a mystery than most of her books and much darker than usual. But good none the less.