Cyanide With Compliments

Pollard & Toye #5

by Elizabeth Lemarchand

Pollard & Toye’s most intriguing case yet! Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, M C Beaton, Sophie Hannah and Faith Martin.

There is no greater disaster than greed…

When Audrey Vickers is found dead in her bedroom – poisoned by chocolates posted through her letterbox – suspicion is immediately thrown on her niece, Drusilla, who she is known to have argued with days before the murder.

But Mrs Vickers was a very difficult old woman, and it soon becomes clear there are plenty of other people who may have wanted her dead.

With the crime falling under the jurisdiction of the Highcastle police force, who had worked with Scotland Yard a few years ago, Detective Superintendent Pollard and Detective Sergeant Toye are once more drafted in to help.

Is this an open and shut case? Did Drusilla poison her aunt?

Or did someone else send her Cyanide With Compliments?

Cyanide With Compliments is the fifth cosy village mystery in the Pollard & Toye crime series: an intriguing police procedural set in rural England.

'All the ingredients of a first class murder mystery are included in the book and to give even the slightest inkling of the story would be to ruin the pleasure gained from reading it' – Southern News

'In the best Agatha Christie tradition' – Argosy

THE POLLARD & TOYE INVESTIGATIONS SERIES
Book One: Death of an Old Girl
Book Two: The Affacombe Affair
Book Three: Alibi for a Corpse<
Book Four: Death on Doomsday
Book Five: Cyanide With Compliments
Book Six: No Vacation From Murder
Book Seven: Buried in the Past
Book Eight: Step in the Dark
Book Nine: Unhappy Returns
Book Ten: Suddenly While Gardening
Book Eleven: Change for the Worse
Book Twelve: Nothing to Do with the Case
Book Thirteen: Troubled Waters
Book Fourteen: The Wheel Turns
Book Fifteen: Light Through the Glass
Book Sixteen: Who Goes Home?
Book Seventeen: The Glade Manor Murder

Genres: Mystery, British Literature, Crime, Fiction

218 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1972

Reviews

[Helga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audrey Vickers is a nasty piece of work. She is controlling and rude. She is one of those people you try to avoid on holidays. She would whine, argue, complain and as the saying goes, will talk the hind leg off a donkey.
After an argument with her niece and her husband she decides to change her will. But before she can do so, she is poisoned by eating chocolates filled with cyanide.

[Nancy]

I just reread this British mystery and wonder again: why is this writer so little known today? this book is very well done. it's a classic puzzle that plays fair with the reader: three separate possible muderers/reasons are investigated and each is neatly disposed of before we move on to the next.
nice quote: "... its picturesqueness was ... cultivated and unconvincing."

[Patty · Rating 3 out of 5]

A friend of mine has carried this book with her for many years. It has an address label from a place she lived before I met her. She is trying to get rid of some books and this was one of them. I was curious about why a reader would carry this book around for more than a decade.

Well, now I know. Lemarchand has created a character, Pollard, who reminds me of Luke Thanet and Inspector Lynley. The mysteries are good, but the characters are intriguing. Not only do you learn about these men's professional successes, but their family and friends are also important. I like series like this one about Detective Superintendent Pollard.

I don't know how many of Lemarchand's novels my friend once had. She gave the library four and I plan to read those four before sending them on to the next reader. Serendipity is a wonderful thing. I doubt I would have ever read a book by this author without my friend donating her books to my library.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heavy on the coincidences, but still a nice little puzzle!

[Peter Marsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's probably a function of reading the series back to back but there seemed to be quite a number of recycled ideas cropping up in this one. The victim is a disagreeable, manipulative, self absorbed old biddy (Death of an Old Girl), there is an enormously unlikely coincidence (Death on Doomsday) and whilst this was not a central plot device, it did affect the direction the investigation was going for a while. The most startling idea was the impersonation of one character by another during the commission of the crime which started the ball rolling (The Affercombe Affair) and this was certainly central to the plot.

For all this, it was still a good read. I've started the next in the series but will probably move on to something else after this one but with every intention of returning to the series at a later date.

[Edith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elizabeth Lemarchand writes a very pleasant and entertaining novel, which, although written in 1972, has retained most of its charm. It is not however a complex book, or one of great character development, and, like her other Pollard and Toye novels, was written rather formulaically.

However, its protagonists, Pollard and Toye, are likable, if unchanging from book to book. Enjoyable views of Italy (not devoid of stereotypic views of Americans and Italians), and glimpses of cruise life. Coincidences abound, and the deductions pretty much deduct themselves.

Recommended if you would like to read a meringue of a novel during a heatwave, solaced by a cold drink, or during a snowstorm, with a cup of bracing tea, without experiencing too much mental agitation, and perhaps dreaming of Italy.

[Barry Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

On returning from a cruise in the Mediterranean Mrs Audrey Vickers is murdered by chocolates containing cyanide which were delivered by post. The most obvious candidates for the murder are her niece and her husband who were on the cruise with Mrs Vickers and had a terrible argument prior to the cruise ending. It is only Detective Superintendent Pollards intuition that they are innocent that they start looking into other possible suspects.

[Pipina · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining police procedural. I know Elizabeth Lemarchand is often compared to Agatha Christie, but she reminds me more of Freeman Wills Croft and his Inspector French series. Painstaking investigation, no alleys left without checking, lots of information, much of it fascinating, which comes down to nothing at the end - as it surely happens in real life cases.

[Cynthia Grove · Rating 4 out of 5]

So glad I don't eat marzipan. Hardly a spoiler to tell you what the means of murder was.
Good characters, a lovely glimpse of Italy and Greece (brief) and an enjoyable story. A relaxing and pleasant read. Slightly dated in style.

[Dr. Pj Forrest · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Read

Pollard and Toye once again become embroiled in murder and conspiracy, this time stretching all the way to Italy. Mrs. Olivia Strode once again helps out. Excellently drawn characters. A light but entertaining read.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audrey Vickers has just returned from a cruise with her niece and husband, where she was not a popular guest. Only to receive a box of chocolates from the cruise company containing cyanide promoting her death. Pollard and Toye investigate.
An entertaining mystery with its likeable main characters.

[Carrie Drake · Rating 3 out of 5]

pleasant read, good characters

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basically this is a cozy procedural.
Who knew such a thing existed.

A thoroughly unlikable spinster manages to get on the bad side of everyone else on a cruise ship. This make things tricky for the police when she is poisoned, shortly after returning home.

The police are competent and likable, the mystery is twisty-turny and it's interesting to see them follow leads and sort through a big jumble of information.

Didn't know this was part of a series, as the book stands on its own very well.

Nice time waster of a book.

[Regine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pleasant.