Aidan and his eight year old daughter, Melangell, have traveled to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne so that Aidan can show Melangell all the places on the island that his late wife loved and wrote about in her books.
Death on Lindisfarne
Aidan Mysteries #2
Fay Sampson
Lion Fiction
April 2013
Death on Lindisfarne by Fay Sampson is a good book but it took me while to get into the British style of writing. There was very little humor in the story but I did get a good laugh at the author calling the clerical collar a dog collar. Aidan has been a widower for six months when he decides to take his eight year old daughter, Melangell, to Lindisfarne to show her all the places that her mother loved and wrote about in her books. They were there for a week long retreat and were joined by eight other people in addition to Lucy, a Methodist minister, who was leading the retreat. Lucy is trying to help Rachel, a young girl who is working to overcome her drug addiction, and not too far into the story, Rachel's body is found on the beach. At this point the suspense of the story begins to happen. Did Rachel commit suicide or was she murdered and if murdered who is the guilty person? There are also several less important questions that add to the suspense of the story. Aidan lets the group assume that he and his wife, Jenny are separated. Lucy has things in her past that she does not want to reveal such as why she left the police department four years ago. James, a minister, staggers into the house dripping blood from a cut on the head and cannot tell the group how he was injured. Sue is at the retreat with James as his assistant and she seems to worship the ground he walks on but he treats her with complete disdain. David and Frances are a very different couple and seem to constantly find something to complain about. Elspeth is a professor at Oxford and a most disagreeable woman. Valerie, her companion, is the complete opposite and is always doing her best to keep Elspeth from antagonizing the rest of the group.
The author did an excellent job in making all the characters come to life. Some were loveable and some were completely unlikeable. Scene descriptions were very well done and in my mind I could picture myself in the action right along with the characters in the story. There were several twist and turns to the plot and several mysteries to be solved. The author had me guessing until almost the end of the book exactly who had murdered Rachel and why. From the very first I wanted to know how to pronounce the name of the spunky little eight year old Melangell. She was my favorite character for she was about the only one who had no secrets to hide and was completely honest in everything she said. In fact, most of the time she appeared to be more mature than the adults. I have to be honest and say that I really did not care all that much for the history of the Holy Island of Lindisfarne and the Northumbrian saints that were included in the book. I would have enjoyed the book much more if it had just been about the group at the retreat.
I recommend this book to anyone who likes a book with a lot of suspense and who also likes British history.
Kregel Publications provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
