Title: Lessons in Cracking the Deadly Code
Series: Cambridge Fellows Mysteries
Author: Charlie Cochrane
Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited
Length: 110 Pages
Category: Historical, Mystery
At a Glance: This story is a treasure to read, and I highly recommend it along with the whole Cambridge Fellows series.
Reviewed By: Carrie
Blurb: St Bride’s College is buzzing with excitement at the prospect of reviving the traditional celebration of the saint’s day. When events get marred by murder it’s natural that Jonty Stewart and Orlando Coppersmith will get called in to help the police with their inside knowledge. But why has somebody been crawling about on the chapel roof and who’s obsessed with searching in the library out of hours?
Review: We’re back to the quintessentially English, always surprising world of Jonty and Orlando. It’s a cold winter in Cambridge this year, and Orlando is getting fidgety. Needing something to apply his mind to, the preparations at the college for St. Bride’s Day will have to do—that, and dunderheads to teach and essays to mark. The preparations for the celebration, one which has been a part of the college since its inception, are going quite well, and there is an air of expectancy around the grounds. Thinking it is nothing, but wanting to be thorough about his job, the head porter, Mr. Browne, pays a call to Orlando and Jonty to mention some strange goings on around the college… and our mystery begins.
This is another great, entertaining installment to this series. While not one of Cochrane’s more twisty tales, this one definitely keeps pacing you forward as the events unfold and the mystery reveals itself. This story is more of a treasure hunt, its clues and meanderings all wrapped up in the venerable college Jonty and Orlando call home. And, of course, it’s all fun and games until someone dies. Can an old hymn written by an underclassman of yore really be the key to finding riches on the campus of the college? And why was a poor boy killed?
If you have enjoyed the Cambridge Fellows Series—or just good old-fashioned English mysteries in general—then this novella is for you. The history of St. Bride’s College is delved into, and it makes one of the main settings of this series come alive in a brand new way by exploring the history of the college and those who live there and make it their home. You can practically smell the old tomes in the library and feel the drafty air in the hallways of the infirmary. Solid, popular secondary characters that have played a part in previous novels come back to lend their aid to this story, and while it’s not a mystery where they will end up, how they get there is highly engaging. The bi-play between Jonty and Orlando is again well written and even without overtly romantic scenes, their love for each other is on the page. Our duo rather fall into this mystery, not realizing what is going on around them until things get very serious, and we are readers fall right along with them. This story is a treasure to read, and I highly recommend it along with the whole Cambridge Fellows series.
You can buy Lessons in Cracking the Deadly Code here:
[zilla_button url=”http://authl.it/B07JM5Q3J6?d” style=”blue” size=”large” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Amazon/Kindle Unlimited [/zilla_button]
One of my favourite series and i love we still get given these little nuggets!