The Body on the Doorstep: A dark and compelling historical murder mystery
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By A. J. MacKenzie
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2 reviews
For fans of Antonia Hodgson’s, The Devil in the Marshalsea, and M.J. Carter’s, The Strangler Vine, The Body on the Doorstep is the first Romney Marsh Mystery by A. J. MacKenzie
Kent, 1796.
Shocked to discover a dying man on his doorstep – and lucky to avoid a bullet himself – Reverend Hardcastle finds himself entrusted with the victim’s cryptic last words.
With smuggling rife on England’s south-east coast, the obvious conclusion is that this was a falling out among thieves. But why is the leader of the local Customs service so reluctant to investigate?
Ably assisted by the ingenious Mrs Chaytor, Hardcastle sets out to solve the mystery for himself. But smugglers are not the only ones to lurk off the Kent coast, and the more he discovers, the more he realises he might have bitten off more than he can chew.
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Our book group at the Dick Institute Library were lucky to receive 10 copies of this from Bonnier Zaffre Publishing and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.
The characters are beautifully drawn and the plot offers plenty of clever twists and turns. Well written, with great attention to historical detail, The Body on the Doorstep is an atmospheric page turner that reminded us of an Agatha Christie novel. I could not put this book down.
Looking forward to further instalments in the Romney Marsh Mystery Series and learning more about the Rev. Hardcastle and Mrs Chaytor.
I did enjoy this book. It was a slow start and then slowly characters built up. I felt it was quite atmospheric but I'm quite keen on history so could visualise the period in time. A short book thou I felt a few more chapters would have been better.
My one negative The Font size! Too small made for tired eyes and for people with visual problems it makes it a hard or impossible read. A shame really.
