What do you think?
Rate this book
DuVivien & Birdseye #7
R in the Month
* 'Ever since reading R in the Month as a teenager, I've been a Nancy Spain fan. I love her juxtaposition of seedy, atmospheric settings with humour and showbiz glamour. There's still no one quite like her' ELLY GRIFFITHS
The oyster party had the kiss of death upon it - even though there were two 'R's in the month. Miriam Birdseye - famed revue star and sleuth - could have told you that from the start. She isn't a bit surprised to learn that her fiance's mother died in the night.
But who at the seedy Sussex hotel would have poisoned the bivalves? Could it be the hotel proprietor - a handsome, drunken bankrupt? His put-upon wife? Miriam's impressively moustachioed fianc�? Or the menacing, unsavoury chef?
Can Miriam track down the killer before anyone else is murdered by mollusc?
* 'Her detective novels are hilarious - less about detecting than delighting, with absurd farce and a wonderful turn of phrase' SANDI TOKSVIG
The oyster party had the kiss of death upon it - even though there were two 'R's in the month. Miriam Birdseye - famed revue star and sleuth - could have told you that from the start. She isn't a bit surprised to learn that her fiance's mother died in the night.
But who at the seedy Sussex hotel would have poisoned the bivalves? Could it be the hotel proprietor - a handsome, drunken bankrupt? His put-upon wife? Miriam's impressively moustachioed fianc�? Or the menacing, unsavoury chef?
Can Miriam track down the killer before anyone else is murdered by mollusc?
* 'Her detective novels are hilarious - less about detecting than delighting, with absurd farce and a wonderful turn of phrase' SANDI TOKSVIG
Hardcover
Published January 1, 1950
2 people are currently reading
82 people want to read
About the author
Nancy Spain
30 books9 followersNancy Spain was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1917, the great-niece of the legendary Mrs Beeton.
She began her career as a journalist and occasional actor in radio plays. After the Second World War she published a very successful memoir of her time working as a driver and in the press office of the WRNS. She later wrote columns for the Daily Express and She magazine, made many radio and television appearances, and published a series of detective novels.
She and her partner Joan Werner Laurie were killed in a plane crash in 1964.
She began her career as a journalist and occasional actor in radio plays. After the Second World War she published a very successful memoir of her time working as a driver and in the press office of the WRNS. She later wrote columns for the Daily Express and She magazine, made many radio and television appearances, and published a series of detective novels.
She and her partner Joan Werner Laurie were killed in a plane crash in 1964.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 12, 2023
Things weren't quite as insane as her earlier books, although there was clear indication of lesbians in the kitchen. I missed the Russian ballerina, but Miriam was on the case of death by oysters. Were seaside towns and their boarding houses really so depressingly bad? Knowing Blackpool and Morecambe, I wouldn't be surprised! I do like a bit of Nancy Spain.
February 12, 2023
February does have two RRs in it, but it turns out not to be a good month to eat oysters at Oranmore Private Lodge, a seaside hotel that lives up to every bad thing that has ever been said about British seaside hotels in the postwar years. Seedy proprietor, put-upon wife, bolshy domestics, ex-army officers and tyrannical older women who hold the purse strings are all at the fateful oyster party - but who will end up dead, and who in the dock on trial for murder?
I’m giving this two stars for the disappointment of seeing this author being given a bit of a gold star treatment - celeb endorsement, mainstream publisher - compared to the other rediscovered women writers of this period. Cosy Nancy Spain is not, and far from writing domestic fiction she reveals a deep hatred of domesticity or what passed for it among the postwar English middle classes, but this book did not have me joyously acclaiming her recuperation.
This is not, though, by any means a bad book. I most enjoyed the earlier chapters, where the inhabitants of a small seaside town are nailed in all their awfulness with the satirical precision of EF Benson. It was all too easy to imagine Terry-Thomas playing the ghastly but strangely lovable Tony Robinson, or Kenneth Williams as the affected Pryke, one of the few characters to emerge as a halfway decent human being.
But here lies the rub. If the author doesn’t like her characters - apart from Miriam Birdseye, with whom I was not enamoured - why should we? And why should we care if one by one they are bumped off? As a detective novel the emphasis is not on clues and red herrings - rather, like the detectives themselves, we get a rather impressionistic sense of who might, could and finally did commit the crime.
There were things to enjoy in this book but also, in short, things not to my taste. I can, however, imagine in twenty-five years’ time the Robinsons duping Basil Fawlty into parting with a stupid amount of money for their hotel in Torquay twenty years later…
I’m giving this two stars for the disappointment of seeing this author being given a bit of a gold star treatment - celeb endorsement, mainstream publisher - compared to the other rediscovered women writers of this period. Cosy Nancy Spain is not, and far from writing domestic fiction she reveals a deep hatred of domesticity or what passed for it among the postwar English middle classes, but this book did not have me joyously acclaiming her recuperation.
This is not, though, by any means a bad book. I most enjoyed the earlier chapters, where the inhabitants of a small seaside town are nailed in all their awfulness with the satirical precision of EF Benson. It was all too easy to imagine Terry-Thomas playing the ghastly but strangely lovable Tony Robinson, or Kenneth Williams as the affected Pryke, one of the few characters to emerge as a halfway decent human being.
But here lies the rub. If the author doesn’t like her characters - apart from Miriam Birdseye, with whom I was not enamoured - why should we? And why should we care if one by one they are bumped off? As a detective novel the emphasis is not on clues and red herrings - rather, like the detectives themselves, we get a rather impressionistic sense of who might, could and finally did commit the crime.
There were things to enjoy in this book but also, in short, things not to my taste. I can, however, imagine in twenty-five years’ time the Robinsons duping Basil Fawlty into parting with a stupid amount of money for their hotel in Torquay twenty years later…
March 21, 2023
These are straight out of the weirder end of the murder mystery genre - but I like them. They can take a while to get into, but when you do, they're fun. I'm really glad Virago has been republishing them so more people can discover Nany Spain - this isn't my favourite though - that's probably either Death Goes on Skis or Poison for Teacher.
August 5, 2022
Classic English murder mystery, with a unique style, but reads a little too dated for my tastes
August 15, 2023
Delicious
March 3, 2023
For my full review click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
July 18, 2023
R in the Month
I was disappointed in this book having read Sandi Toksvig’s glowing comments. I found it rather dull. I don’t think Nancy Spain is for me.
I was disappointed in this book having read Sandi Toksvig’s glowing comments. I found it rather dull. I don’t think Nancy Spain is for me.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews