The Cornish Coast Murder

The Cornish Coast Murder by John Bude
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Reverend Dodd, the local vicar, and his dinner guest, the local doctor, find their Monday night ritual of divvying up crime thrillers from the local lending library interrupted by a phone call announcing a murder. Their neighbour, Julius Tregarthan (no, not local Squire in this case—though he is a Justice of the Peace) has been shot to death.
Originally published in 1935, the text for the most part could be mistaken as being modern. In his introduction to this edition, Martin Edwards suggests that Bude “pays more attention to characterisation and setting than many of his contemporaries”, and I think this goes some way to explaining why the novel has the feel of a likeable, modern-day Cosy, albeit one set in the 1930s.
The weird thing is, I’m almost positive that I held this book in my hands when I was a young child (old enough to be able to read the text, but too young to make a lot of sense of it). I got a strong feeling of déjà vu with the opening sentence, and a much stronger one when I saw the title of the twentieth chapter: The Little Greystoke Tailor. Clearly I used to flip through books. I still do sometimes.
I think the British Library is on to a winner, republishing these forgotten gems from the Golden Age of Crime Writing.
But that’s just my own humble opinion…what do you think? Do let me know! Read for the Crime & Thrillers reading group that I attend at Canada Water Library, and also for my 2016 Goodreads reading challenge.


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