Devil at the Crossroads

DCI Channon Mystery #3

by Olive Etchells

Following an acrimonious split from her husband, Helen Pascoe moves her three children from London to Trenoon, a lovely old house in a rural part of Cornwall, inherited by Helen some years earlier. The whole family soon settles down to its new life near Falmouth, feeling comfortable and happy there, when suddenly the local maritime community around them is stunned by a murder in their midst. A young man is found stabbed and propped up against an ancient standing stone at the crossroads of two narrow lanes overlooking the water, a place where legend says a gibbet once stood.It is DCI Channon's territory, and when he investigates he finds that the victim is connected to all the Pascoes, including the absent father, as well as to other residents of what was once a humble fishing village but which now includes out-of-towners with considerable wealth. The ramifications of the murder affect everybody; rumour and suspicion are rife, and Channon, aided by the abrasive Sergeant Bowles, find that the murder at the crossroads is one of his most difficult cases.Praise for Olive Etchells'The most unnerving crimes of violence are the ones that tear apart small, tightly-knit communities... and Etchells demonstrates this awful process of disintergration.' New York Times Book Review'Etchells' smoothly written police procedural features an intuitive and sensitive hero, Detective Chief Inspector Channon... (his) compassion for the families of the victims, as well as his ability to synthesise information, leaves the reader eager to see more of him.' Publishers Weekly'A quiet but suspenseful village mystery' Booklist

273 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Olive Etchells was born in Lancashire, England. She has been writing for many years and is best known for her Jericho Rose Lancashire sagas.

She writes under two other names: Liza
Manning and Rachel Murray. Both names are used for romance fiction.

Series:
* DCI Channon Mystery

Reviews

[Doug Beatty · Rating 5 out of 5]

DCI Channon and his companions are back in this third Cornish coast mystery by Etchells. A young man is found with his throat slit, propped up against an ancient standing stone, his expensive diamond earring ripped from his ear. The standing stone is located close to the Pascoe family. Helen Pascoe, separated from her husband was at the stone the very night before, chasing a plastic bag from the windshild of her car. Her son Jaz had an argument with the dead man a week before. And her oldest daughter Lucy was having a close relationship with the victim, unbeknownst to the family. Channon is sympathetic to the family but knows that they are all suspects in the hideous crime. If only he can keep his sargeant Bowles from being nasty to the suspects, he might have a chance at solving this case.

I love this series. Etchells has a great knack for character, not just the detective but she gets into the lives of the suspects. She creates a world in which a murder can happen. And she provides a workable solution, one that I could not figure out. I have read all three of her novels so far, and enjoyed all of them. Can't wait for the next one!

[Roberta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this and am interested to see if the author has other novels with this protagonist.

[Alison C · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Devil at the Crossroads, by Olive Etchells, the body of young rich playboy Paul Stradling is found brutally murdered and propped up against the Menna, an ancient standing stone in a village near Falmouth in Cornwall, UK. Detective Chief Inspector Channon of the Devon and Cornwall police force is charged with investigating the crime, but he finds there are so many threads, and suspects, to sort through that the going is very slow. First there's the Pascoe family, with the parents recently separated and the oldest daughter romantically involved with Paul, not to mention the son's argument with the deceased. There's a village youngster who lost his job thanks to his clumsy work on the Stradling yacht, who is known to have vandalized the yacht in retaliation. Then there are all the relatives of all the young women whom Paul had seduced and discarded, a very large list indeed. And finally, does Paul's interest in ancient history and archeology have anything to do with the crime, and the placement of the body? DCI Channon must somehow weave his way through all these threads to arrive at the truth, before there's another murder.... This is apparently the third book in this series by Olive Etchells, although I've only seen one (Footprints of the Devil). I like the series for its Cornish setting and its thoughtful, sensitive detective, along with his relationships with others including his abrasive tough-guy sergeant. I solved the crime before the denouement, but that said the crime was fairly clued and I did consider more than one suspect before settling on my pick, so that's not a bad thing to me! I'm not sure how available these books are in North America (I found it through a mail-order remainder house that specializes in British books), but if you find one and you're in the mood for a not-too-challenging but enjoyable mystery, pick it up. One does not have to have read the series in order to appreciate the setting and characters, although of course doing so enriches the experience! Recommended.

[Lester · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fine book..enjoyable reading. Good plot..got a twist..that is always a 'good thing'.