Thoroughly enjoyable romp through Sussex - especially Brighton and Lewes - plus a bit of London, complete with a body in the lido... ( )

Once again, Sefton, Morley and Miriam hit the road in the Lagonda to gather material for one of the County Guides, this time to Sussex. After a short visit to Brighton, they arrive in Lewes in the evening of 5 November – Bonfire Night. In the morning after the celebrations the night before, Sefton finds a woman's body in the lido, a shoelace tied around her neck. With the help of Miriam and Sefton, Professor Morley asks some questions to get to the bottom of the tragedy.

This is the fifth volume in the County Guides series, and I feel that with every instalment the plot becomes slightly darker. The novel is set in 1937, and the reader encounters the British Blackshirts, members of the British Union of Fascists, for the first time, though only in passing. Otherwise, a lot of pages are devoted to atmosphere, in both London and the country, and characterisation, especially of the three main characters, with Sefton – as before – not shying away from critical self-analysis. It seems therefore inevitable that the central mystery doesn't experience as much exposure as in previous novels, with Sefton discovering the body only just after the halfway mark in the book, and this plot strand feels slightly rushed. Still, there is as always much to enjoy here, from factoids on British history and other trivia to the interplay between the characters, this time with the addition of a dog.

Of course I'll be a passenger in the Lagonda again when Morley and Co. take to the road again. I just hope that the wait won't be quite as long as that between volumes 4 and 5, which took more than two years. ( )