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Miss Pink #16
Retribution
In a remote Lakeland dale whitewashed cottages nestle in lush gardens, sheep roam the fells and the Rutting Beck runs crystal clear: it seems like a Cumbrian paradise...
But Melinda Pink, visiting on holiday, knows better. She knows that yard-thick walls do more than shelter their occupants from the elements; they can also muffle screams. For there are serpents in paradise; dead sheep go unburied, tax dodges and benefit fraud are rife; the proprietor of the tearooms falls prey to a rumour of salmonella poisoning – and then the village busybody is found caught up in the jetsam of the flooded beck.
Arthritic but insatiably curious, it is Miss Pink who takes up the cudgels on behalf of the other intrepid local old folk both alive and dead, and – as it soon transpires – of other, younger victims. Against a backdrop of a stark and beautiful countryside is woven a thread of love and lust, of betrayal and revenge.
But Melinda Pink, visiting on holiday, knows better. She knows that yard-thick walls do more than shelter their occupants from the elements; they can also muffle screams. For there are serpents in paradise; dead sheep go unburied, tax dodges and benefit fraud are rife; the proprietor of the tearooms falls prey to a rumour of salmonella poisoning – and then the village busybody is found caught up in the jetsam of the flooded beck.
Arthritic but insatiably curious, it is Miss Pink who takes up the cudgels on behalf of the other intrepid local old folk both alive and dead, and – as it soon transpires – of other, younger victims. Against a backdrop of a stark and beautiful countryside is woven a thread of love and lust, of betrayal and revenge.
- GenresBritish Literature
239 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2003
12 people are currently reading
16 people want to read
About the author
Gwen Moffat
53 books17 followersGwen Moffat’s main interests are wilderness areas and the genesis of murder, and all her books have featured one or the other. Moffat has writtenboth travel books and novels.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 6, 2025
Gwen Moffat's books get really bad ratings on GR. They average about 10 readers, so that impacts ratings.
I must be a weirdo because I really liked Miss Pink's mountainous murder investigations. She's a lot like Miss Marple - the way she investigates, not the mountaineering. And like Miss Marple, everyone falls over themselves to gossip with her. Eminently useful when you have a murder to solve.
This is the last Miss Pink title and my library doesn't have many of the others. I'll try a non-Pink story and find out if it's 1★ worthy, or if I just devour any old murder I come across.
I must be a weirdo because I really liked Miss Pink's mountainous murder investigations. She's a lot like Miss Marple - the way she investigates, not the mountaineering. And like Miss Marple, everyone falls over themselves to gossip with her. Eminently useful when you have a murder to solve.
This is the last Miss Pink title and my library doesn't have many of the others. I'll try a non-Pink story and find out if it's 1★ worthy, or if I just devour any old murder I come across.
March 12, 2021
Hugely enjoyable
This book is very much enhanced by the writer's adept style, no wasted words and great detail in concise storytelling. A small English village community hiding a variety of personalities - gossips, lotharios, spite, murder, house sandwiches.....wait, murder ?
This book is very much enhanced by the writer's adept style, no wasted words and great detail in concise storytelling. A small English village community hiding a variety of personalities - gossips, lotharios, spite, murder, house sandwiches.....wait, murder ?
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews