Joy Windle > Recent Status Updates

Trite & boring.

Even though I'm interested in the period, I fear this one does not do much to develop a great deal of action or character or sense of time and place. Having enjoyed Ellis Peters' Cadfael series, I had high hope for more insight into the creators of the chaos into which their actions plunged England.

I enjoyed the device of sliding from the present in the court room and the precipatory event in Three Pines. Much is made of the moral/legal/ethical dilemma, but from time to time it feels a bit as though Penny is 'indicating' characters' struggle rather than revealing them fully.

Definitely not in the current fashion! THe story unfolds but slowly and Dame Bradley doesn't arrive until halfway through. That said, I'm really enjoying these vintage treasures, and I suspect I agree with whomever said Gladys Mitchell is better than her more famous contemporary, Dame Christie. I could really see these as BBC/Masterpiece Mysteries.