Death in the Garden
by Elizabeth Ironside
List Price:
Our Price: $3.25
You Save: $11.70 (78%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Elizabeth IronsideEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2005-10-15
ISBN: 1933397179
Number of pages: 240
Publisher: Felony & Mayhem
Book Reviews of Death in the Garden
Book Review: Clever, Not Engrossing
Summary: 3 Stars
"Death in the Garden" has many virtues, beginning with its tantalizing epigraph and continuing all the way to the solution of the intricate mystery in the final pages. Elizabeth Ironside is a careful and talented writer, and she has created an ingenious and complex conundrum in the tradition of the English Country House mystery.
The complexity of the plot structure, however, takes over the book and becomes the chief source of interest, eclipsing any investment one might have either in the characters or the puzzle to be solved. The murder, as many other reviewers here have noted, occurs sixty years before it must finally be solved by the niece (by marriage) of the accused. The crime is thus seen from a multitude of perspectives and angles. The book includes excerpts from a putative crime book ("Passionate Crimes," by Lewis J. Buckherd), from the diary of the "Great-aunt," interviews with elderly survivors of an earlier day, glimpses of her life provided by the unlikely Dr. Ananda Ramasubramaniam, adopted son of her best friend and chief rival, and a host of contemporary relatives and their wives with their own parallel problems.
What are all these characters doing in this book? Merely serving as mouthpieces for the different perspectives that Ironside is trying to show us. They all sound the same, and all they do is talk, talk, talk. By the end of the novel, I was long past caring about them or about what happened to them -- especially about something as mundane as whether the protagonist (Helena) would decide to keep her aunt's house, Ingthorpe, or whether her relationship with the completely absent Robert would work out. Good grief!
I felt that I was being set up simply to admire the book's clever structure. Well, I did, so the author got what she wanted. Unlike some of the other reviewers here, however, I did not wish the book to be one page longer than it was.
Summary of Death in the Garden
Gold Dagger nominee In 1925 beautiful, bohemian Diana Pollexfen was celebrating her 30th birthday. The celebrations soured when her husband died, poisoned by a cocktail that had been liberally laced with some of Diana's photographic chemicals. Sixty years later, Diana's grand-niece, Helena, is also turning 30, but with rather less fanfare. An overworked attorney in London, Helena's primary social outlet is an obsessive love affair. By way of distraction, Helena starts looking through her great-aunt's papers and soon develops another obsession: Determining just who did kill George Pollexfen in that lovely, sunlit garden between the wars. "Elizabeth Ironside" is the pseudonym of Lady Catherine Manning, wife of the British Ambassador to the U.S. Her first novel won Britain's John Creasey Award for Best First Mystery of 1985, and Death in the Garden was nominated for Britain's CWA Gold Dagger for Best Mystery of 1995.Historical Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Historical Books
Fields of Fire (Bluejacket Books)by James H. Webb
US Naval Institute Press; Published: 2000-05-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.30
Price in other shops:
Peter the Great: His Life and Worldby Robert K. Massie
Published: 2007-10; Audio CD; Book
Price in other shops:
Musashiby Eiji Yoshikawa
Kodansha International; Published: 1995-07-14; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $20.41
Price in other shops:
Moloka'iby Alan Brennert
St. Martin's Griffin; Published: 2008-12-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $25.00
The Sunne in Splendour: A Novel of Richard IIIby Sharon Kay Penman
Published: 2008-05-16; Library Binding; Book
Best price: $26.95
These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine (P.S. (Prebound))by Nancy E. Turner
San Val; Published: 2008-04; Library Binding; Book
Best price: $20.48
Price in other shops:
The Help (Thorndike Press Large Print Basic Series)by Kathryn Stockett
Thorndike Press; Published: 2009-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $32.95
Lonesome Doveby Larry McMurtry
Audio Literature; Published: 1992-09; Audio Cassette; Book
Price in other shops:
Redeeming Loveby Francine Rivers
Monarch Books; Published: 2004-08-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.45
Price in other shops:
Seabiscuit: An American Legendby Laura Hillenbrand
Published: 2007-05; Unknown Binding; Book
Best price: $29.99
Similar Books and other products
A Good Death (Felony & Mayhem Mysteries)by Elizabeth Ironside
Felony & Mayhem; Published: 2009-02-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.80
Price in other shops:
Maisie Dobbsby Jacqueline Winspear
Penguin Books; Published: 2004-05-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops:
An Incomplete Revenge: A Maisie Dobbs Novel (Maisie Dobbs Novels)by Jacqueline Winspear
Picador; Published: 2008-11-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.04
Price in other shops:
Messenger of Truth: A Maisie Dobbs Novel (Maisie Dobbs Novels)by Jacqueline Winspear
Picador; Published: 2007-06-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.50
Price in other shops:
The Private Patient (Adam Dalgliesh Mysteries)by P.D. James
Knopf; Published: 2008-11-18; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.10
Price in other shops:
Double Negative (Felony & Mayhem Mysteries)by David Carkeet
Felony & Mayhem Press; Published: 2005-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.99
Price in other shops:
The Romeo Flag (Felony & Mayhem Mysteries)by Carolyn Hougan
Felony & Mayhem; Published: 2005-12-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.90
Price in other shops:
The Spy's Wifeby Reginald Hill
Felony & Mayhem; Published: 2006-04-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.50
Price in other shops:
A Very Private Enterprise (Felony & Mayhem Mysteries)by Elizabeth Ironside
Felony & Mayhem; Published: 2007-11-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.45
Price in other shops:
The Accomplice (Felony & Mayhem Mysteries)by Elizabeth Ironside
Felony & Mayhem; Published: 2006-10-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.66
Price in other shops: