A Charmed Death

by Miles Tripp

When Stella and Rodney Best come across the body of a beautiful drifter whose specialty had been older men, Rodney's behavior makes Stella suspect that he knows more than he is telling

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Miles Barton Tripp (1923–2000) was an English writer of thirty-seven works of fiction including crime novels and thrillers, some of which he wrote under noms de plume Michael Brett and John Michael Brett. He served in RAF Bomber Command during World War II, flying thirty-seven sorties as a bomber-aimer. He recorded his wartime experiences in his one non-fiction work, the memoir The Eighth Passenger. After the war, Tripp studied law and worked as a solicitor, and started to write fiction during his spare time. He lived in Hertfordshire, England.

Reviews

[Caroline · Rating 1 out of 5]

A very fast-paced tale about a murder mystery, a classic who did it? but unfortunately the culprit was obvious not very far into the book which is a shame and I didn't emotionally connect to the characters as I felt everything was rushed and not fleshed out more.

[Jerry B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent British mystery, with bonus relationship insights...

We count British authors Dick Francis [mostly Americanized now:], Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, and P.D. James among our numerous favorite writers. Somehow the settings in England, the dialogue, the names of things, being mostly the same but slightly different occasionally appeal in much the same way Yankees like visiting the South (or vice versa) for a different taste of America, where of course the differences in fact are indeed few. We just happenstanced upon this story by Brit Miles Tripp and gave it a try.

What unfolded in this fairly short (under 200 pages) but classic mystery was a compelling tale - one as much about suspicion between husband and wife as about the murder in question. When her husband Rodney Best all too conveniently stumbles across a dead woman while walking the dog while she waited in the car, wife Stella begins to wonder why he chose to drive, why he chose the route he did, why he stopped where he did to walk the dog. She hid these concerns from the police, who her husband was reluctant to call. Over the next few weeks, the interest he took in the case, followed by her detective work, drove wedges of distrust between them, to the point where Rodney finally confessed he was covering for someone else. This totally surprising twist to the plot merely set the stage for a wonderful story within the story about this someone else and their relationship with the dead woman. Near the end, a few more twists and turns reveal all. The permanent effect on the Best's otherwise still intact marriage gave us as much food for thought as the entertaining outcome to the whodunit per se.

While maybe the book only took a couple of hours to read, author Tripp surely was skillful enough to craft a clever plot sufficient to maintain suspense until virtually the final page. Possibly more impressive is that he also was insightful enough to write his reflections on family relationships, intimacy, extracurricular affairs, and the like in such a way to fuel thought and introspection on the part of the reader. For a short little British mystery, not bad !