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Andrew Basnett #6
Smoke Without Fire
Andrew Basnett, a retired professor of botany, finds his Christmas getting complicated when he is caught up in the eventful aftermath of the death of Sir Lucas Dearden, who is killed by a mysterious bomb.
310 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1990
28 people are currently reading
66 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Ferrars
91 books26 followersAka E.X. Ferrars.
Born Morna Doris McTaggart in Rangoon, Burma of a Scottish father and an Irish-German mother, she grew up in England where she moved at age six. She attended Bedales school and then took a diploma in journalism at London University.
Her first two novels, 'Turn Single' (1932) and 'Broken Music' (1934), came out under her own name, Morna McTaggart. In the early 1930s she married her first husband but she left him, moved to Belsize Park in London and lived with Dr Robert Brown, a lecturer in botany at Bedford College in 1942. She eventually divorced her first husband in October 1945 and married Dr, later Professor, Brown.
It was in 1940 that her first crime novel 'Give a Corpse a Bad Name' was published under the pseudonymn that she had adopted, Elizabeth (sometimes Elizabeth X. - particularly in the USA) Ferrars, the Ferrars her mother's maiden name. This novel featured her young detective Toby Dyke, who was to feature in four other of her novels.
When her husband was offered a post at Cornell University in the USA, the couple moved there but remained only a year before returning to Britain. They travelled with her husband's work, on one occasion visiting Adelaide when he was a visiting professor at the University of South Australia, and later moved to Edinburgh where her husband was appointed Regius Professor of Botany and they lived in the city until 1977 when, on her husband's retirement, they moved to Blewsbury in Oxfordshire where they lived until her sudden death in 1995.
She continued to write a crime novel almost every year and in 1953 she was a founding member of the Crime Writers' Association of which she later became chairperson in 1977.
As well as her short series of works featuring Toby Dyke, she wrote a series featuring retired botanist Andrew Basnett and another series featuring a semi-estranged married couple, Virginia and Felix Freer. All in all she wrote over seventy novels, her final one 'A Thief in the Night' being published posthumously.
Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor described her as having "a sound enough grasp of motives and human relations and a due regard for probability and technique, but whose people and plot are so standard".
Gerry Wolstenholme
November 2010
Born Morna Doris McTaggart in Rangoon, Burma of a Scottish father and an Irish-German mother, she grew up in England where she moved at age six. She attended Bedales school and then took a diploma in journalism at London University.
Her first two novels, 'Turn Single' (1932) and 'Broken Music' (1934), came out under her own name, Morna McTaggart. In the early 1930s she married her first husband but she left him, moved to Belsize Park in London and lived with Dr Robert Brown, a lecturer in botany at Bedford College in 1942. She eventually divorced her first husband in October 1945 and married Dr, later Professor, Brown.
It was in 1940 that her first crime novel 'Give a Corpse a Bad Name' was published under the pseudonymn that she had adopted, Elizabeth (sometimes Elizabeth X. - particularly in the USA) Ferrars, the Ferrars her mother's maiden name. This novel featured her young detective Toby Dyke, who was to feature in four other of her novels.
When her husband was offered a post at Cornell University in the USA, the couple moved there but remained only a year before returning to Britain. They travelled with her husband's work, on one occasion visiting Adelaide when he was a visiting professor at the University of South Australia, and later moved to Edinburgh where her husband was appointed Regius Professor of Botany and they lived in the city until 1977 when, on her husband's retirement, they moved to Blewsbury in Oxfordshire where they lived until her sudden death in 1995.
She continued to write a crime novel almost every year and in 1953 she was a founding member of the Crime Writers' Association of which she later became chairperson in 1977.
As well as her short series of works featuring Toby Dyke, she wrote a series featuring retired botanist Andrew Basnett and another series featuring a semi-estranged married couple, Virginia and Felix Freer. All in all she wrote over seventy novels, her final one 'A Thief in the Night' being published posthumously.
Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor described her as having "a sound enough grasp of motives and human relations and a due regard for probability and technique, but whose people and plot are so standard".
Gerry Wolstenholme
November 2010
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
November 11, 2022
Really intriguing mystery!!! Takes place as Andrew Barnett arrives at to spend the holidays with friends when death occurs. It is sudden and shocking. Immediately after this shock the two families involved begin to talk and the sliding back and forth of each person trying to figure out who and how begins. The victim is someone that was universally unliked and the holder of funds that would be dispersed upon death. The searching and unravelling made you trust and distrust everyone except Andrew who was truly the only neutral person.
Even at the end, when Andrew finds the final link of information needed to realize the guilty one- the remaining people begin unravelling as they come to terms with the events. The end while sad in many ways felt very poignant and well grounded. A solid mystery!
Even at the end, when Andrew finds the final link of information needed to realize the guilty one- the remaining people begin unravelling as they come to terms with the events. The end while sad in many ways felt very poignant and well grounded. A solid mystery!
December 22, 2022
For my full review click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
September 10, 2018
Retired professor Andrew Basnett is spending a quiet Christmas with his long-time friends Colin and Dorothea Cahill, when a bomb--the last thing you'd expect in a cozy--explodes in the road outside, killing a neighbor. But was the victim the intended victim? He was returning home from London, where he had planned to spend the week. The person who was expected to drive down the road was the Cahills' son Jonathan.
July 5, 2024
I liked it: it's a readable well-plotted murder mystery of the traditional British style. The story-telling moves at a leisurely pace with an increasing suspense level about "whodunnit". The narrator Andrew Basnett is an attractive character and the others are well-defined without turning the story into a character study. I hope the others books in this series are as good as this one. Recommended.
June 2, 2024
1 3/4 stars. It was fair. I actually think that ok is a better rating than fair. Ok to me is about average.
I thought that it lacked some spark. I didn't connect with the characters and the ending couldn't be deduced by the information given to the readers. Sure, you could guess and I had a feeling who it was but the proof wasn't there.
I thought that it lacked some spark. I didn't connect with the characters and the ending couldn't be deduced by the information given to the readers. Sure, you could guess and I had a feeling who it was but the proof wasn't there.
January 1, 2025
Okay, I figured out the murder(s) easily, and it's possible I have read this before, but I am finding that I really enjoy the character of Andrew Basnett. He's old — like me! So, he doesn't go chasing around, but thinks through the crime and its situation. 3 for the mystery, but 3.5 for other aspects of the novel.
December 29, 2023
Interesting characters introduced smoothly - the pace at first is laid back sort of - then a murder & it does really get your attention! The story is so well written & discovering additional details kept me turning the pages to discover how it all plays out! Recommend for sure!!!
April 14, 2023
Was a slow start but had a surprise ending. Glad I stuck with it.
August 22, 2025
'Sedate' is a good word to describe this series, which might sound suspiciously close to 'sedated,' but I am finding this series very pleasant at the moment.
December 11, 2025
Good Christmas read with our quiet, reserved amateur detective. The resolution was less satisfactory than others in the series.
December 25, 2025
good series. The main character is well written and interesting. Only drawback is that the stories are too short.
February 12, 2011
This is one of those books where there's a lot of talk, not much action, and more talk, often repeating the clues and conversations.
The mystery itself was a bit twisty, but overall I got a little bored.
The mystery itself was a bit twisty, but overall I got a little bored.
December 16, 2008
A nice steady mystery series that does not require too much heavy lifting. Enjoyable, the characters have some flesh, and the mystery isn't too transparent. Pleasant.
December 18, 2016
An excellent mystery taking place during the Christmas season.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews