Death Mask

by Ellis Peters

When archaeologist Bruce Almond is killed on a dig in Greece, his son Crispin returns to Somerset and a mother he barely knows. Convinced his father's death was no accident, Crispin believes even his mother is not free from suspicion, so he baits a clever trap to lure the murderer out of hiding.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Historical Fiction, Thriller, British Literature, Mystery Thriller

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

A pseudonym used by Edith Pargeter.

Edith Mary Pargeter, OBE, BEM was a prolific author of works in many categories, especially history and historical fiction, and was also honoured for her translations of Czech classics; she is probably best known for her murder mysteries, both historical and modern. Born in the village of Horsehay (Shropshire, England), she had Welsh ancestry, and many of her short stories and books (both fictional and non-fictional) were set in Wales and its borderlands.

During World War II, she worked in an administrative role in the Women's Royal Naval Service, and received the British Empire Medal - BEM.

Pargeter wrote under a number of pseudonyms; it was under the name Ellis Peters that she wrote the highly popular series of Brother Cadfael medieval mysteries, many of which were made into films for television.

Reviews

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

After an abrupt separation from his employer, and returning to England, Evelyn Manville runs into an old friend. He soon finds himself struggling with a mature-before-his-time teenager with dramatic Greek leanings, and a situation that is not as it appeared.

This was the first non-Cadfael book I've read of Ellis Peters', and in a strange way, this also scratches my Mary Stewart itch. Pages just vanished before my fingers as I read, engrossed in the story; each character, from Dorothy to Crispin to Evelyn himself, was vividly imagined and seemed to appear in front of me.

I'm definitely putting Ellis Peters back on my actively-reading list!

Disclaimer: I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Charles van Buren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twists and turns keep it interesting

By Charles van Buren on March 5, 2018

Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

I enjoy Ms Peters' Brother Cadfael books so much that I have been saving them for occasions when I need a fun book which is going to end well. As a result, I have been trying some of her other books while I save the Cadfael novels. So far I have read three of the Felse books but find them so focused on Felse's son that they are almost young adult stories. So I decided to try the stand alone novel Death Mask.

I did not read any descriptions or reviews as I wanted to avoid advance knowledge of the plot. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that one of the main protagonists is a 15 year old boy. A very mature boy, but still 15. Despite finding myself reading another Peters novel with a teenage main character, I really enjoyed this exciting mystery/adventure novel. Just when I would feel that I had a good idea of where the story was going, Peters would throw in another twist.

I had a little trouble getting interested in the first three or four pages largely, I think, because I have trouble reading Peters without expecting Brother Cadfael. I persevered and within just a few more pages I was interested in the characters. I recommend this novel to anyone who likes mysteries which are set several decades in the past.

[Lark of The Bookwyrm's Hoard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part mystery, part Greek tragedy, Death Mask will come as something of a surprise to readers familiar only with Ellis Peters’s “Brother Cadfael” mystery series. For one thing, Death Mask is a stand-alone mystery; for another, it’s very decidedly contemporary rather than historical. (Contemporary to Peters, that is. At a guess, the book takes place in the 1950s, and was originally published in 1959.) But it’s written with Peters’ customary skill and sensitivity to the shadings of human emotion and experience, and her distinctive voice is easily identifiable, though filtered (as it should be) through the first-person narrative.

Unlawful death, themes of justice and vengeance, and the lust for gold and glory contrast ominously with the surface normality of a English country house and the prickly relationships between an adolescent boy, his mother, and his tutor. The tension grows steadily as Evelyn, the narrator, begins to perceive the whole of what has happened, and the path which Crispin is pursuing with singleminded determination. Peters captures that sense of looming and inevitable disaster that pervades Greek tragedy, letting it swell until it bursts forth in a surprising, violent, and dramatically drawn-out climax.

Evelyn’s growing affection for Crispin despite the latter’s impersonal antagonism, and Crispin’s reluctant respect for Evelyn in return, are what really make the story work for me. Without that, and without Evelyn’s insight into Crispin, interpreting him for the reader, the plot could feel overdone. But Peters paints both man and boy — the two main characters, and never mind the hint of romance between Evelyn and Crispin’s mother, Dorothy — with such subtlety and understanding that they become real to me. That reality spills over onto the secondary characters and renders the less plausible parts of the plot completely believable.

I don’t want to give away the ending, but I will say that in a sense, the Greek tragedy continues to the end: hubris brings down a prideful character. Who, and how, I leave you to find out. But I’ll also remind you that this is an Ellis Peters mystery, not one of Sophocles’ plays. Which means you have a reasonable hope for a satisfying conclusion.

Full disclosure here: I’ve actually read Death Mask twice before… which tells you something about how much I enjoy it! I hope you will enjoy it, too.


Review originally published on The Bookwyrm's Hoard.

FTC disclosure: I received a review e-copy from the publisher. All opinions are entirely my own.

[Sep · Rating 4 out of 5]

The POV is Evelyn Manville, an ex-soldier who has been in love with Dorothy all of his life. She alas, married another. When the book opens, Evelyn has been back in London for a couple of hours where he meets Dorothy again, now a widow. She and her late husband were separated for years and she finally has custody of her sixteen-year-old son.

This is an early Peters (1959) though she was actually publishing in the 1930s. The attitudes are a bit dated but the use of Greek tragedy as a plot device is fascinating. The fact that well-educated Englishmen had the classics at their finger tips is another window into the past. I had to check Wiki.

Crispin, sixteen, is Dorothy's son. Evelyn and he establish a fairly quick (Perhaps almost a war time quickness) relationship. Together they need to face an unknown murderer who has already gotten away with murder.

[A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is so awesome when you read a book on a whim, expecting a decent time, but then are completely blown away and immediately have to get your hands on a physical copy so you can read it again.
Full RTC.

[Jane Irish Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

All his life Evelyn has loved Dorothy, but he hasn't seen her in fifteen years. Now, down on his luck, she offers him a job as tutor to her son, Crispin. Dorothy had been separated from her husband, Bruce, who had taken custody of the boy, and now they can't seem to connect. It doesn't help that Crispin suspects that Bruce's death, at the dig he was supervising, wasn't the accident it seemed, so he sets a plot to uncover the culprit — a plot that puts both his and Evelyn's lives in deadly dander. Excellent, fast-paced, and hard to put down. Recommended.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5
I had trouble getting into this story. Ellis Peters' Cadfael mysteries are truly awesome and the reader feels like they are present in the period. This book was overly wordy and told entirely in the first person narrative, which hindered the action immensely. There were times that I wasn't sure what was going on until after it had happened.
I stayed with the book to see who was the murderer and because Peters is a personal favorite, but I would not recommend this one .

[Sonja Livingston · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an English mystery written by a woman from a man's (named Evelyn) point of view, but with all the time the speaker spends describing tea fixings and flowers and flushed faces, we aren't fooled. Still it was a fun book to share with my sweetie, taking turns reading out loud in fake English accents.

[Linnea Olson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never expected this book to be as good as it was.

A new author for me, written well with description, intrigue, sensitive characters; the plot begins at archeological dig and moves to England wherein asrartling revelations unfold as a young man seeks to to determine who killed his father.

[Carol Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent mystery

The author of this book has a rare gift, and thankfully, uses it. Such writing! I've read many, and am always glad that's how I spent my time. This is a jewel of a mystery, exploring the troubled relationship of mother and teenage son, but it's SO MUCH more than that. Highly recommended.

[Bonnie Ridley · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a great many years, I have loved just about anything that Edith Pargeter (also Ellis Peters) wrote. She lets me get to know and care about her characters.

[Remath · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not Cadfael.

A quick escape from the real world in a pinch. A well constructed tale with an interesting twist. Reads like a B movie.

[Barbara Howe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Death Mask is a standalone mystery, set contemporaneously in the 1950s when Peters wrote it. Like many of Peters' stories, it includes a romance, but the romance was awkward and not very believable. That was fine, because the romance wasn't the primary relationship in the story. The focus was instead on the surrogate father/son relationship between the adult narrator and the teenage boy he was tutoring. That connection was well-drawn, and quite satisfying.

The mystery, too, was well-done, with a high-tension climax.

So for the most part I enjoyed this book, but… One of the major plot points involving the archaeological find bothered me. A lot. The boy, Crispin, stole a considerable number of gold artefacts from a burial site, and used them to draw the murderer to his home in the U.K. This
ransacking and spoilage of a major find threw me right out of the story. Maybe in the 1950s they were less meticulous about recording artefacts in situ than they are today, but the disturbance stuck in my craw.

There was also an unfortunate amount of sexism. That, combined with the lavish lifestyle of the upper-crust British (large house with servants, private tutor, …), made this feel more dated than some of Peters' other contemporaneous mysteries.

And finally, if the cover image on my copy hadn't had included a drawing of a death mask on the bottom edge, I wouldn't have been able to figure out what this artefact was supposed to look like. Here it is, since the cover image goodreads shows doesn't help:

[Peggy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mystery, adventure, romance

Young widow asks old friend to come and tutor her obstinate teenage son. Father was killed in accident/murder? at his archeological dig in Greece, and intrigue follows them back to England.

[Alayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very intriguing mystery by Ellis Peters, but not in the Brother Cadfael series. This one is very dated though, being written and set in the late 1950s and the attitudes towards women had my skin crawling. That said, it is a book of its time, and a very enjoyable one.

[Keeley · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you can get past the fact that corporal punishment is considered a normal component of parenting, this mystery novel is an interesting exploration of the growth of step-parental affection. The mystery itself is slightly overdetermined but has a nice classical archaeology theme.

[Diana Holdridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love Ellis Peters. I had forgotten how much since it's been years since I read the Inspector Felse series. But this book, Death Mask, is just so very wonderful. Beautifully written, with great mystery and adventure. So highly recommend!

[Arthur T. Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much better than modern mysteries!

Builds inexorably to a satisfying conclusion. I’ve never read an Ellis Peters book I didn’t like. Peters also wrote an epic medieval trilogy called “The Heaven Tree” under the name Edith Pargeter which I highly recommend.

[Kiwi Carlisle · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot of this is pretty decent, but the characters and their motivations are so over-the-top! Peters usually had a delicate, convincing touch with her adolescent characters,, but she failed with Crispin.

[Carol Palmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful plot and characters with a totally satisfying conclusion! I really didn't want this book to end.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really liked this one. Interesting plot and believable characters, told in a compelling way.

[Deirdre · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty good! A dramatic situation employed to its fullest with enough depth of humanity to keep me interested. And Peters can write - so refreshing.

[Fenella Tipton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing classic British mystery, elegant and well-written, engrossing characters!

I opened this book yesterday afternoon intending to read a chapter. It was well past my bedtime when I put it down. The first sentence was a tad long but by the second paragraph I was hooked – the protagonist Evelyn has just run into Dorothy, a woman he hasn’t seen for sixteen years. Their last meeting was when she refused his marriage proposal.

But this is not a romantic story. It is a deeply intriguing look into the dark corners of a not fully formed human mind. What is driving Dorothy’s estranged son Crispin to get kicked out of every school and refuse every tutor? Is it something to do with the death of his father on a dig in Greece?

How Evelyn tries to win Crispin’s trust and figure that puzzle out both emotionally and logically makes for fascinating reading. But even more fascinating is how Ellis Peters captured the juxtaposition of little kid and remorseless adult in Crispin, who is spiraling ever closer to a very deadly climax…

(thanks NetGalley for the early ebook copy to read)

[Mrsgaskell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Evelyn Manville runs across Dorothy Grieve seventeen years after she refused his proposal of marriage. He has just returned to England from the Persian Gulf and is at loose ends. She is looking for a tutor for her teenage son Crispin. The boy had been living in Greece with his archaelogist father and she has had no contact with him for the last twelve years. Bruce Almond died when a large stone fell and crushed him on his archaeological dig. The boy is precocious, independent, and difficult. He has already been through a few schools and sent one tutor packing. Crispin accepts the position and begins to develop a relationship with the boy and discovers that there is some mystery involved and that the boy is determined to play a lone hand. The story, first published in 1959, is dated and fairly predictable but it was entertaining, light reading nevertheless, featuring archaelogical treasure, tombs, caves, and elements of suspense and romance.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Murder stalks an archeological dig in Greece.

The teenage son of the murdered archeologist holds a secret about his own guilt and a key to his father’s killer, and the killer has followed the son to England.

The narrator, Evelyn Manville, has returned from his job with an oil company, now out of business, broke and out of a job.

That’s when he meets his old sweetheart, the girl he grew up with and asked to marry many years before – and was refused – and now she has offered him a job.

The job? To tutor her son – that teen whose father has been murdered, her estranged husband.

But the killer is still after the secret the teen holds close to his chest, and the killer has come after him.

Grab this superbly orchestrated mystery of passions misunderstood, of a dedicated teacher who refuses to back down to his student’s anger, of a secret that may well destroy him and his student – or set them free.

[Helle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ellis Peters (aka Edith Pargeter) has written a few stand-alone mysteries, of which Death Mask is an early one. It is set in the 1950’s and one of its strengths is that does not feel outdated. (Agatha Christie is another author who manages to convey the “contemporary” time period perfectly.) I’m not entirely sure what to make of the genre, whether it was a mystery, coming-of-age, or Greek tragedy, with a little romance added for good measure, but somehow the combination does work. I enjoyed it a lot, happy to see that after finishing the Cadfael books, there is more to explore from the same author.

[Tria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Different cover and publisher; needs some librarian editing, I'll do it later.

[Poetreehugger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of old fashioned, but in a nice way. It's like reading a black and white murder mystery movie.