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Rough Cider
“Bracing psychological suspense.”—The New York Times Book ReviewReading, England, 1964. Theo, a lonely university lecturer, is approached by an American girl named Alice who wants to learn more about her father, a GI hanged for murder in Somerset during World War II. As a boy, Theo was a principal witness for the prosecution. He has been haunted by the arrest and conviction ever since. As the pair tries to uncover the facts, the horrors of the past take on a frightening immediacy when another murder is committed.
258 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1986
43 people are currently reading
232 people want to read
About the author
Peter Lovesey
295 books643 followersPeter Harmer Lovesey, also known by his pen name Peter Lear, was a British writer of historical and contemporary detective novels and short stories. His best-known series characters are Sergeant Cribb, a Victorian-era police detective based in London, and Peter Diamond, a modern-day police detective in Bath. He was also one of the world's leading track and field statisticians.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
January 21, 2018
I saw review of this book on this site and the timing of it coincided with a visit to the library where I was happy to find this paperback that had been waiting for me for 17 years. It was published in US in 2001, though first published in 1986 in UK.
This book was engaging, creative and fun to read as the narrator managed to make the reader feel he was sharing a very good yarn with you that he happened to be prominently featured in, checking now and then to ensure we were grasping the significance of various events.
The story involves a new look at a murder that took place at a farm/orchard where our narrator had been sent in 1943 as a London evacuee when he was but 9 years of age.
If I describe it I risk spoiling it for you so I won't.
This book was engaging, creative and fun to read as the narrator managed to make the reader feel he was sharing a very good yarn with you that he happened to be prominently featured in, checking now and then to ensure we were grasping the significance of various events.
The story involves a new look at a murder that took place at a farm/orchard where our narrator had been sent in 1943 as a London evacuee when he was but 9 years of age.
If I describe it I risk spoiling it for you so I won't.
November 6, 2015
I like to watch British mystery series on television and I love British mysteries writers such as the classic Dorothy L. Sayers stories with Lord Peter, the Edwardian settings of Anne Perry, the old pubs and inns behind the Martha Grimes novels, the intensive psychology horror that seems ubiquitous in the work of the late Dick Francis, and, my personal favorite, the poetic and comedic stylings of the late Sir John Mortimer (one of the few knighted personages I’ve had the privilege of meeting and an incredibly delightful conversation partner when I only intended to express my admiration) of Rumpole fame. I believe Lovesey may eventually enter that tier for me, though this first offering I’ve read by him is more journeyman work than masterpiece.
Though published in the 1980s, Rough Cider is a snapshot of World War II England and post-war England. It begins in an academic setting and offers surprise revelation after surprise revelation. Indeed, part of my problem with the novel is the “Agatha Christie” revelation of the murderer at the conclusion (I’m really not sure the murder works with the timeline for this suspect.). Along the way, one is swept into the hardships of children during the war, the vagaries of human memory, the strange secrets kept in one’s family, and the feelings of the English toward those U.S. servicemen who were in one sense, saviors, and in another sense, invaders. I think the latter was what really struck me emotionally about the book, though my personal fear of losing my memory or discovering that my “memories” are so distorted as to be “dishonest” made this a difficult book for me at times.
Even though I’m not entirely happy with Rough Cider as a book, I think it is a lovely set-up for a film. The university professor protagonist thrust out of his comfortable life and forced to face his childhood memories by the abrupt appearance of the daughter of a serviceman he’d admired has a strange relationship with this daughter. At times, it is romantic; at times, cold and cruel. At times, it is harmonious; at times, antagonistic. It is almost a cypher for a marital relationship when both parties are commitment-averse and, at times, working at cross-purposes. This part of the novel is brilliant and would really work if cast with the right actors.
But the novel loses its force in the unraveling of the mystery as it offers too little information on some suspects and not enough on others. And, one wonders if some of the gruesome, sometimes horrifying details of events it recounts—both in the past and in the story’s present—are really helpful to the story. I have mixed feelings about the details of the “rape” and the violent demise of a valuable source. But, in a hypocritical vein, I rather liked discovering what alcoholic cider could do to a body (and the rather morbid pun from those who knew about a certain brand of cider). Overall, I think I’ve found an author to be revisiting on several occasions.
Though published in the 1980s, Rough Cider is a snapshot of World War II England and post-war England. It begins in an academic setting and offers surprise revelation after surprise revelation. Indeed, part of my problem with the novel is the “Agatha Christie” revelation of the murderer at the conclusion (I’m really not sure the murder works with the timeline for this suspect.). Along the way, one is swept into the hardships of children during the war, the vagaries of human memory, the strange secrets kept in one’s family, and the feelings of the English toward those U.S. servicemen who were in one sense, saviors, and in another sense, invaders. I think the latter was what really struck me emotionally about the book, though my personal fear of losing my memory or discovering that my “memories” are so distorted as to be “dishonest” made this a difficult book for me at times.
Even though I’m not entirely happy with Rough Cider as a book, I think it is a lovely set-up for a film. The university professor protagonist thrust out of his comfortable life and forced to face his childhood memories by the abrupt appearance of the daughter of a serviceman he’d admired has a strange relationship with this daughter. At times, it is romantic; at times, cold and cruel. At times, it is harmonious; at times, antagonistic. It is almost a cypher for a marital relationship when both parties are commitment-averse and, at times, working at cross-purposes. This part of the novel is brilliant and would really work if cast with the right actors.
But the novel loses its force in the unraveling of the mystery as it offers too little information on some suspects and not enough on others. And, one wonders if some of the gruesome, sometimes horrifying details of events it recounts—both in the past and in the story’s present—are really helpful to the story. I have mixed feelings about the details of the “rape” and the violent demise of a valuable source. But, in a hypocritical vein, I rather liked discovering what alcoholic cider could do to a body (and the rather morbid pun from those who knew about a certain brand of cider). Overall, I think I’ve found an author to be revisiting on several occasions.
June 23, 2021
Interesting historical whodunit set in wartime England and after, in the early sixties. It reminded me of The Go-Between and Atonement in its use and reinterpretation of a child’s perspective on events. In fact, Atonement, written later, uses a lot of very similar elements in its plot.
This book is written well enough, and I like all the cider-making details. But its narrator is such a jerk that it distracts from the story, which is a little hard to believe anyway.
This book is written well enough, and I like all the cider-making details. But its narrator is such a jerk that it distracts from the story, which is a little hard to believe anyway.
January 20, 2018
This is my type of book and Peter Lovesey is my type of author. I have enjoyed his Peter Diamond series and various other stand alone novels that I could find. This is the last on my shelf and was therefore approached with mixed feelings, but a couple of nights ago I needed a book that I knew that I would enjoy from the beginning and therefore chose this one.
I quickly knew that I had made the right choice. A book that can draw me in when I am not sat in my favourite chair in the late evening with a glass of whisky on the side table, but on a delayed train heading to an hospital appointment in a previously unvisited city, has to be a good one. ( Incidentally, the return journey was along the same track as is taken in the book ( spooky or what?)
The author undoubtedly has this knack and that this book was written back in 1986 should have proclaimed to the reading public back then just what they had in store.
The real story here is quite slow to unfold as the tension mounts, and the reader tries to guess where the narrative, which he is informed is addressed to him, will lead. If you want to know what the story is about before you choose to read it then I am sure that you will find enough to spoil it for you among the many precis and spoiler ridden reviews.
I know that I admired the author and having previous rated his other works highly, I was prepared to trust him to give me a good story when I needed it and once again he delivered.
I quickly knew that I had made the right choice. A book that can draw me in when I am not sat in my favourite chair in the late evening with a glass of whisky on the side table, but on a delayed train heading to an hospital appointment in a previously unvisited city, has to be a good one. ( Incidentally, the return journey was along the same track as is taken in the book ( spooky or what?)
The author undoubtedly has this knack and that this book was written back in 1986 should have proclaimed to the reading public back then just what they had in store.
The real story here is quite slow to unfold as the tension mounts, and the reader tries to guess where the narrative, which he is informed is addressed to him, will lead. If you want to know what the story is about before you choose to read it then I am sure that you will find enough to spoil it for you among the many precis and spoiler ridden reviews.
I know that I admired the author and having previous rated his other works highly, I was prepared to trust him to give me a good story when I needed it and once again he delivered.
March 12, 2016
This is a very absorbing stand-alone mystery, told by a narrator who was a witness in a murder trial as an eleven-year-old boy. The book begins when the protagonist, Dr. Theo Sinclair, is challenged by Alice Ashenfelter, the daughter of the man hanged for the murder. Horrified to think he might have contributed to the death of an innocent man, Theo clings to his youthful interpretation of events. However, as the story unfolds, he realizes that, truthful as his testimony was, it was coloured by a mixture of wishful thinking and misunderstanding due to his age and vulnerability. The murder happened on a farm where he had been evacuated during the Second World War. He grew fond of the beautiful daughter of the house and was befriended by a good-natured GI who was posted in the area.
Theo is grown up and enjoying a tranquil career as a university lecturer when Alice appears in his life. She is an attractive, but persistent young woman, who both attracts and infuriates him. The interaction between the two in the present, along with the intriguing mystery from the past, makes for lively and engrossing reading. While the adult reader is quicker to realize the protagonist’s error and correctly interpret the events, the story is still gripping because one wants to find out the correct solution and also see what happens between the protagonist and the woman who has forced him to reevaluate the past.
Theo is grown up and enjoying a tranquil career as a university lecturer when Alice appears in his life. She is an attractive, but persistent young woman, who both attracts and infuriates him. The interaction between the two in the present, along with the intriguing mystery from the past, makes for lively and engrossing reading. While the adult reader is quicker to realize the protagonist’s error and correctly interpret the events, the story is still gripping because one wants to find out the correct solution and also see what happens between the protagonist and the woman who has forced him to reevaluate the past.
October 11, 2014
I rarely stop reading in the middle of a book, but I just couldn't take it anymore. I gave up.
After a promising opening, the book quickly goes downhill. The action dies. Characters sit in bars or homes and talk and talk about the past, trying to decipher it. Nothing happens. At the half-way mark, our "hero" is sitting in a bar, thinking about his situation and feelings for 3 pages. I started skimming the remaining chapters.
I quickly discovered that, yes, the obvious plot twist I'd been expecting since the first few chapters happens. Aargh. That the female protagonist is so oblivious seems impossible. Or maybe the twist is she's not oblivious. I don't care enough to read more closely. But it is irritating that the characters tactfully avoid the possibility that I'd been assuming would play out -- and then does play out.
I really liked the tension of the opening chapters. The weirdness promised so much, somehow. But the tension could't be maintained and the heart of the book falls out. The snobbery of the main character is fun, but then he starts to have feelings -- and that just seems forced. I preferred him as the aloof womanizer. It was hard to believe that he felt anything for the damsel in distress he was so ready to dismiss over and over again.
After a promising opening, the book quickly goes downhill. The action dies. Characters sit in bars or homes and talk and talk about the past, trying to decipher it. Nothing happens. At the half-way mark, our "hero" is sitting in a bar, thinking about his situation and feelings for 3 pages. I started skimming the remaining chapters.
I quickly discovered that, yes, the obvious plot twist I'd been expecting since the first few chapters happens. Aargh. That the female protagonist is so oblivious seems impossible. Or maybe the twist is she's not oblivious. I don't care enough to read more closely. But it is irritating that the characters tactfully avoid the possibility that I'd been assuming would play out -- and then does play out.
I really liked the tension of the opening chapters. The weirdness promised so much, somehow. But the tension could't be maintained and the heart of the book falls out. The snobbery of the main character is fun, but then he starts to have feelings -- and that just seems forced. I preferred him as the aloof womanizer. It was hard to believe that he felt anything for the damsel in distress he was so ready to dismiss over and over again.
September 8, 2019
A disappointment. Set in the sixties, a young man in his twenties was evacuated to the countryside in the forties where he unwittingly played a part in a tragic crime and trial. At this trial an American service man was found guilty and executed for the murder of a local never-do-well who reportedly raped a local girl. Now, twenty years later the daughter of the GI comes to find out what really happened. Our "hero" is a bit thick headed and who the real murderer was is not exactly a surprise.
August 26, 2018
Brilliant evocation of era and characters, credible plotting and a ‘duh’ denouement making at least this reader wonder why he hadn’t been smart enough to see this coming all along. Delightful and engrossing throughout.
April 16, 2007
This book confirms Loveseys position as one of the best British crime authors
February 2, 2008
This is a good murder-mystery that takes place in WW2 England, a favorite literary time period of mine. Good plot with plenty of surprises and nice writing.
April 12, 2008
a silly mystery, not very good. weak characters
October 20, 2018
A very off-beat mystery. Anyone looking for a new and different take on the genre should try this out.
June 20, 2012
This plot is good and interesting set in WWII, but the writing is poor! Style, dialogue, pace, I just can't believe this author is a major published author!
April 6, 2018
Absolutely one of the very best authors ever!
April 30, 2018
Superbly exciting, even if the female lead was exasperatingly poorly written.
January 16, 2019
What the hell!!!!!?????!!!!!
February 10, 2019
Good mystery that unfolds nicely.
Want to read
May 7, 2019Synopsis: a lonely college professor is haunted by the arrest and murder conviction of a GI in WW2 England. He is approached by the daughter.
July 4, 2021
Interesting read for me. Theo, our protagonist is a University professor who is visited by the daughter of a GI he met as an evacuee in suburban London.
Theo had been evacuated to this farm during the war. Cider was made there. New to me, is that, as hard cider ferments in barrels, mutton legs are tossed in the barrel to "feed the cider". (Never again will cider pass through these lips)
The daughter knows he testified against her Daddy because he thought her Daddy had witnessed a rape and had then killed the rapist up in the barn.
But what does a 9 year old know about lovemaking? Why was the girl pounding the floor with fists and feet and not pounding the "rapist"?
After a while I realized /
This is a very absorbing story and held my attention throughout.
Truthful as Theo's testimony was, it was from the point of view of a child.
We realize the killer is still at large and all who are investigating are in danger
Theo had been evacuated to this farm during the war. Cider was made there. New to me, is that, as hard cider ferments in barrels, mutton legs are tossed in the barrel to "feed the cider". (Never again will cider pass through these lips)
The daughter knows he testified against her Daddy because he thought her Daddy had witnessed a rape and had then killed the rapist up in the barn.
But what does a 9 year old know about lovemaking? Why was the girl pounding the floor with fists and feet and not pounding the "rapist"?
After a while I realized /
This is a very absorbing story and held my attention throughout.
Truthful as Theo's testimony was, it was from the point of view of a child.
We realize the killer is still at large and all who are investigating are in danger
April 11, 2019
The strengths of this novel are the sharp sentence-by-sentence style and the unpredictable, careful plotting. I alternated between listening to the book on unabridged audio when working out (read wonderfully by Stephen Thorne) and reading it in the evening. It is the work of an expert author in crime fiction. People who get impatient with the vanilla, verbal style of bestsellers will enjoy the intelligence of Lovesey's writing. It is observant of details in the setting but also of insights that connect the reader with the characters. The narrator, accompanied by a companion wanting to discover more about her dead father, revisits settings and key events from his childhood as a refugee evacuated from London to a cider farm in Somerset during World War II.
October 27, 2025
4 stars -- "When I was nine, I fell in love with a girl of twenty named Barbara, who killed herself." And so begins a gripping mystery that I can readily see why became an Edgar Award nominee. Just as he states above, Theo Sinclair was 9 years old when he was evacuated from the steady bombing of London in 1943. Little did he know that the Lockwood family who took him in would become a source of anger, guilt, & anguish for the next 20 years. In the short time that Theo was with them, he developed a crush, idolized a hero, and witnessed a crime. Or did he? Pick up this book, and I will let him tell you all about it.
August 16, 2025
Our narrator is a mildly crippled college professor, who as a boy in war-torn England of the 1940s, ending up being part of testimony that hanged an American G.I. for murder. Two decades later, our narrator meets the grown daughter of said G.I. who insists her dad must be innocent. What follows is a an interesting mystery, a disturbing discovery of a dead body (or two), a tense love triangle, and a lot of dry British wit.
The climax is wild, the twists at the end are entertaining (if a little oddball), and the denouement is cute. A quick and enjoyable read.
The climax is wild, the twists at the end are entertaining (if a little oddball), and the denouement is cute. A quick and enjoyable read.
February 17, 2019
I really like mysteries that are tied to the past. In this one, events during WWII are revisited and the truth - which was really a surprise! - is revealed. But...I didn't like either the narrator or the woman who started the search for the truth.
November 28, 2020
I have just read this although it sat on my bookshelf for a while, the waiting to be read shelf. It was an excellent read well plotted the writing as with all Lovesey's books excellent. A great plot twist at the end.
February 11, 2025
This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. It pays to visit one's TBR pile on a regular basis. Plenty of suspense in this story, I did not see the end coming! Can't wait to read more of Lovesey!
November 23, 2025
WWII England, a nine year old boy testifies in a trial that leads to the death sentence of an American GI. Fast forward to adulthood when his childhood memories and perceptions are challenged. Fast paced, simply written from the perspective of the narrator.
March 15, 2020
I think it was his great achievement.
July 12, 2020
A different type of crime novel but very engaging an easy read with a unexpected ending.
March 27, 2021
Good plot, kept you guessing until the last few chapters. Always enjoy Peter Lovesey's writing - will keep reading his books until I run out!
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December 7, 2021An entertaining whodunnit sent in 1960's England with flashbacks to the 1940's. If you enjoy mystery novels you could do worse than this.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews