This is the first book in the Lydmouth Crime Series, a murder mystery series set in the West Country in the border areas of Wales and England during the 1950s. I picked this up, along with the second book in the series because I felt like a change of pace from the usual science fiction/fantasy that I tend to read. I was looking for something engaging but also well written and as it turned out, this fit the bill. It turned out to be an enjoyable and pacey murder mystery with a pair of interesting protagonists at its center – a newly transferred Detective Inspector and a journalist who has newly left her job in London and moved out to the sticks for reasons that become apparent over the course of the novel. ( )