“A fabulous adventure into London, libraries and a sprinkling of murder”

Murder, mystery and a new female detective on the scene, all proved to be a rather fabulous addition to the roster of titles from Harriet Evans.

Dora Wildwood went to London to escape and found herself in the midst of murder most foul as she tried to shake off an overbearing fiance, with money, title and entitlement and find a new life away from the Somerset countryside.

Of course, this is not easy in 1935 with the threat of another world war on the horizon and the difficulties of trying to be an independent woman in a ‘man’s world’.

Bestselling author Harriet Evans, here writing under the pen name of Harriet F. Townson in a nod to her grandmother, has created a rather wonderful character in Dora, who is as much aloof as she is astute. The library beckoned for Dora, though more as a hiding place from her fiance rather than a desire to seek it out but it turns out that the London Library was about to change her life in more ways than one, and also unlock the mystery to her mother’s death in Switzerland.

Speaking about the creation of Dora, Harriet said: “I’ve always wanted to try a detective novel, so last year when I was feeling in need of cheering up I started writing the first Dora Wildwood mystery in the evenings and on trains and on holidays. Initially I was doing it for myself, not only to solve the murder but to remind myself why I love my job: telling stories.”

Well, the story she has spun with ‘D is for Death‘ is a delectable tale that evokes 1930s London and delights with the language and customs of that time. I felt I had been transported into the story as the landmarks and buses involved were all ones that I regularly use in the capital, so the imagery was easy to conjure in my mind.

There are comic moments and times when the narrative reads like a thriller and all along you are carried towards a conclusion with a number of twists along the way to keep the reader wondering where the story will take you next.

If this is the start of a series of Dora Wildwood mysteries, then that is jolly good news and I cannot wait to read more as was enthralled with ‘D is for Death‘.