The Convalescent Corpse

by Nicola Slade

 Amazon US / UK / AU / CA  

 

A story of Family, Rationing and Inconvenient Corpses.

Life in 1918 has brought loss and grief and hardship to the three Fyttleton sisters. Helped only by their grandmother (a failed society belle and expert poacher) and hindered by a difficult suffragette mother, as well as an unruly chicken-stealing dog and a house full of paying-guests, they now have to deal with the worrying news that their late – and unlamented – father may not be dead after all.  And on top of that, there’s a body in the ha-ha.

‘I love it. A delightfully unusual mystery with wonderful characterisation and historical detail.’ – LESLEY COOKMAN BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE LIBBY SARJEANT MYSTERY SERIES

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

… my elder sister Alix announced that she intended to become a nun. This was because she had diligently attended every party she could cajole her way into in the town, but still failed to attract a man willing to become the husband she so desperately wanted. The nun idea was speedily cast aside and instead she decided to volunteer as a nursing assistant at the convalescent home for officers at Groom Hall, the gloomy hunting lodge next door to us. Her reasoning was that a wounded officer, being unable to escape her attentions, might well be a good marital prospect provided his injuries were neither unsightly nor injurious to the married state.

 

I imagine the best I can hope for is a wounded young man who’ll think me an angel of mercy. I don’t care if he has a limb or two missing, as long as he has a handsome bank balance and thinks I’m wonderful.

 

Alix says the prospect of Mrs Mortimer as a mother-in-law renders him ineligible as a husband.

 

My Review:

 

This was quite an unusual collection of characters, each one was oddly entertaining and rather abhorrent; I couldn’t get enough of their smartly written and artfully portrayed peculiarities. I also learned quite a bit as I will confess to being rather sketchy on my WWI knowledge, while I am old – I’m not that old. The storylines were humorously engaging while also informative and continually prodded my curiosity; was it murder, who did it, was it a crime or a kindness? There were multiple suspects, each equally repellent and captivatingly depicted. I treasured this wily author’s pacing, character development, and humorous observations; she cunningly tucked in shrewd insights and colorful descriptions with levity cleverly woven throughout, although their food sounded absolutely dreadful, which was a boon to my diet efforts!   I do believe Nicola Slade has snared a new fangirl.

Author Bio 

Nicola Slade lives in Hampshire where she writes historical and contemporary mysteries and women’s fiction. While her three children were growing up she wrote stories for children and for women’s magazines before her first novel, Scuba Dancing, was published in 2005. Among other jobs, Nicola has been an antique dealer and a Brown Owl! She loves traveling and at one time, lived in Egypt for a year. The Convalescent Corpse is Nicola’s 9th novel. Nicola is also a member of a crime writers’ panel, The Deadly Dames https://www.facebook.com/DeadlyDames/

Social Media Links 

 www.nicolaslade.wordpress.com   www.nicolaslade.com

Twitter: @nicolasladeuk

https://www.facebook.com/nicolasladeuk/  https://www.pinterest.co.uk/nicola8703 (I have a board for each book)

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