Peril in the Parish

Set in 1933 in the English village of Dovecote Hatch, Cannell’s leisurely third Florence Norris mystery (after 2015’s Death at Dovecote Hatch) finds kind and canny Florence, the housekeeper at Mullings, the great house of the district, preparing for her wedding to genial George Bird, proprietor of the village pub, the Dog and Whistle. One evening, a stranger walks into the nearly empty pub and announces, “Twenty years ago today I buried my sister.” He goes on to hint at the circumstances of his 17-year-old sister’s illegal burial when he was 13 and asks George to pass on to Inspector LeCrane a batch of anonymous threatening letters his sister received shortly before she died. The stranger wants the inspector to “hunt down the writer of those letters and bring him or her to justice.” After George consults with Florence, they know what they need to do in response to the man’s request. Other deaths ensue, but the focus is on the relationships among the nicely portrayed residents of Dovecote Hatch, both pleasant and unpleasant. The villagers’ romantic triumphs and losses tend to overshadow the efforts to unravel the puzzles surrounding the various deaths, including a suicide. Fans of traditional British mysteries will find much to like. (Nov.)