Cover Image: Died and Gone to Devon

Died and Gone to Devon

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

I really struggled with the tone of this book. I think it might really appeal to some readers but unfortunately it just wasn't the right book for me.

Was this review helpful?

The more I read of this series, the more I enjoy it. The characters are well defined and differentiated. The relationships are believable and the murder mystery is engaging.

Was this review helpful?

Set in the late 1950s at a Devon "Riviera" resort this book is of its times - a gentle slowness that does take some time to get going mixed with some sharp and apposite humour about life at that time. The characters were well-written and the places well described. Chief reporter on the local rag, Judy, has problems with her mother, thankfully remote from Devon, and the new hot-shot journalist David as well as a boss who toes the party line and doesn't want anything to upset the apparent idyllic life in Temple Regis - so much the opposite of modern editors who actively seek-out the scurrilous gossip, the juicier the better and, in fact, of the Fleet St. journos who appear in due course. Add to this mix the death of a librarian, of the new Conservative candidate, then that of the retiring Conservative member not to mention historic suicide of a Society lady and Judy has much to do, ably abetted by photographer Terry. Thanks to NetGalley and HQ for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Was this review helpful?

This is a nice little mystery is set in Devon, which is certainly a recent years trend - I've read more and more mysteries that have "left" the city's DS and DI's setting the scene in smaller towns with unlikely heroes and heroines. I liked the fact that Temple Regis is a made up town, so the author could run wild with the scenery. It certainly seemed real enough - I actually looked it up instead :)
Miss Dimont is not your regular detective, she is an investigating reporter, for a small town newspaper, who happens to be a step ahead of the local police, on most occasions.
I certainly was able to relate to the characters, and felt disappointed when the chief editor of the "Riviera Express" blocked Miss Dimonts efforts of publishing scoops time after time, which he did not see fit in a local newspaper.
This is the 4th Miss Dimont mystery, but the author succeeded in surpassing the "standalone trial" meaning I did not have to rush and look up any previous books for details.
Sadly, while the mystery was solid enough, it did not make me want to rush and buy another Miss Dimont novel. I thought the plot was good but pretty much guessed the identity of the killer straight away, which is saying a lot considering the murder only took place half way into the book (which was odd to itself). There were not too many natural suspects, and a few characters were introduced to late in the novel, for my liking.
Having said the above, it was an easy and entertaining read. I always like books that give an historic perspective rather than contemporary, as I feel there is more room for the author to play around with things. In this occasion, the issue of women in politics and specifically women MPs was a good reminder that the world still suffers from inequality between the sexes.
A nice little murder story, 4/5 stars. thanks to NetGalley for giving me the option to review this novel.

Was this review helpful?

Temple Regis In Disarray....
Book four in the delightful Miss Dimont mystery series. When A body turns up in the lighthouse at Temple Regis the town and its folk are thrown into disarray and life becomes ever more tumultuous for our Riviera Express journalist, Miss Dimont. Set in 1959, the book is told with charm and atmosphere and, as always, plenty of wit. Characters are nicely drawn and endearing. A real treat and a worthy addition to the series.

Was this review helpful?

I can't really make a full rewiew of this book as I didn't get to the end. I gave it a good try, however I couldn't connect with the characters and kept getting confused as to what was happening. This one just wasn't for me, but I'm sure it will bring pleasure for many others.

Was this review helpful?

This was a bit trying and could have been heavily edited to good effect. The story line was good, but the extraneous detail made reading a little slow.

Was this review helpful?

This cosy crime mystery is a pleasant diversion but no more than that. On the plus side, it is well written and easy to read, if unevenly and, at times, lackadaisically paced. On the downside, however, it is somewhat lacking in terms of setting, character and, sadly, plot.

The story is set in late 50s Devon but this setting is never properly brought to life: it could take place anywhere and, with only the most cosmetic changes, at any time. The details do not convince. In one example, our newspaper reporter heroine quotes the Police and Criminal Evidence Act that would not be passed for another quarter of a century; with such powers of prognostication it is amazing it takes her so long to work out the solution.

This is particularly the case because the mystery elements turn out not to be a little less mysterious than one might have hoped. Many a Christie style crime novel is saved from all its other faults by a well worked out solutions, but sadly that is not the case here. The solution, for me at least, fell into the category of having been pointed towards so clearly that it seemed the author must be using it to conceal a cleverer and more suprising solution. That was not the case is a disappointment.

This then is not a bad book but it isn’t one I would particularly recommend either. Hopefully others, particularly those who have read and enjoyed the previous novel in the series, will have rather better fun.

This review is of a prepublication proof provided by NetGalley.

Was this review helpful?

I wish I had read the others in the series first. It was an ok book. But didn’t suck me in and take over. It was slow to begin with and I lost interest but then it did heat up a little but sadly by that tine it was a thumbs down from me

Was this review helpful?

I found this a slow read, but I actually really enjoyed it. The details are all there, and though I did guess "whodunnit" I felt led there and as a result not let down. The writing is really good, the attention to the characters is all there and its set in a cozy Devonshire town - all in what's not to love.

Was this review helpful?

Happy Friday everyone, and welcome to a special bonus post to mark the mid point in November. I’m one of the stops on the blog tour for TP Fielden’s Died and Gone to Devon – which came out yesterday – and which I read the other week.

This is the fourth book in the Miss Dimount Investigates series, featuring an intrepid lady reporter in the seaside town of Temple Regis in the late 1950s. In Died and Gone to Devon, a by-election is looming – but when one of the candidates winds up dead, Judy is soon investigating. Add into the mix a new and suspiciously ambitious journalist and a visit from her mother, and Judy has soon got a lot on her plate.

Regular readers will know that I love a murder mystery set in the past, and I love an unconventional detective. Judy is an older lady – not as old as Miss Marple certainly, but definitely not in the first flush of youth – and I really like the fact that she’s got her head screwed on and doesn’t sail off into danger without a thought. She’s smart, she’s had to fight to get to wear she is and she’s not going to cede her position easily. And I also like the late 1950s setting – Temple Regis is a sleepy, old-fashioned backwater but you can see the cusp of the swinging sixties on the horizon and the conflicts that are starting as times change. I had some of the mystery figured out early on, but not all by any means and I enjoyed watching everything unfold, although to be fair reading it in the week that a General Election was called might not have been my best plan – as it all got a bit election overload at times!

I read the first book in the series back in 2017, and enjoyed it but thought that there was a lot of set up for the series going on and a few too many unexplained hints about Judy’s past. But this definitely felt like a book in a series that has hit its stride – the characters are established, there aren’t any info dumps about people and there are a few little nuggets about previous cases that would work as callbacks if you’ve read them, or tempt you into reading them if like me you haven’t.

My copy of Died and Gone to Devon came via the publisher, but it is available now as a paperback and on Kindle, Kobo and Audible.

Happy Reading!

Was this review helpful?

The retro 1950s ethos of this story intrigued me, so even though I have not read the earlier books in the series I decided to go for it.

The pacing is slow and the plot complex. The characters are in keeping with the time, and have lots of idiosyncracies that make the setting more realistic.

The team dynamics are difficult to grasp reading this far into the series,but the murder mystery is complete.
Miss Dimont is a reporter and amateur sleuth, with a mysterious background. She is astute and has a keen sense of humour.

The Devon setting and the name of the newspaper she works for make the inspiration for the series easy to guess. The fifties was a heyday for this part of Devon.

The visual writing style makes it easy for the reader to imagine the scenes, and adds to the atmospheric plot.

If you can read the series from the beginning it will be more enjoyable. If not immerse yourself in the historic ambience and enjoy the clever, coastal cozy mystery.

I received a copy of this book from HQ via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

I hadn’t realised that this was part of a series. But this book is a great stand alone book.
The pace of this read is interesting. It does not run away nor is it slow in pace. I found it a solid read that has murder ,mystery with a touch of humour in it.
It’s set in 1950’s in a seaside town Temple Resis with Miss Dimont as the main character who investigates murders. It has a feeling of Miss Marple to it.
Thank you to both NetGalley and HQ stories for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my review

Was this review helpful?

It's the first book I read in this series and I'm more than happy I did because I discovered a very entertaining and well written series.
I found this book engrossing and enjoyable with an excellent description of an era and a cast of well thought and likeable characters.
Miss Dimont is a very interesting character, an indipendente and strong woman who fight to live her life and with some issues with her overbearing mother.
I loved the humour and how it impregnates every twists and turns of this novel.
The mystery is solid and even if I guess the culprit quite easily it kept me interested till the end.
Even if it's a very pleasant read and the humor keeps you read it takes a bit before the mystery part starts but I think that the author did an excellent job in introducing the characters and the environment.
This is not the first instalment in this series but I think that there's a lot backstory and the first part helps you to understand the characters and the plot.
I can't wait to read the next instalment.
A pleasant read that I strongly recommend.
Many thanks to HQ and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Was this review helpful?

This is the third book in this series, and I think it helps to have read the first two. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with this latest novel; it lacked pace and the sense of place that are in the previous volumes. The story drifts, and any murder or mystery are slow to appear, then fade into the background. I would still read a fourth book, if one is published, hoping for a return to form from TP Fielden.

Was this review helpful?

#4 in the Miss Dimont mystery series, but can easily be read as a stand-alone.

Set in the late 1950’s this is a murder mystery in a classic style.

Judy Dimont, wealthy, independent and a journalist with the Riviera Express newspaper.

In the seaside town of Temple Regis there has been a murder. As more bodies turn up Judy beings her investigation into murders past and present.

This has a marvellous cast of characters and the atmosphere of the post war years, all really brought to life by TP Fielden’s clever plot and wonderfully descriptive writing.

If you like a classic murder mystery in the vein of Josephine Tey or George Bellairs, you’ll love this.

Thank you to The publishers and NetGalley for a free ecopy of the book. This is my honest and unbiased review.

Was this review helpful?

The year is 1959 and Judy Dimont, Devon's most famous sleuthing reporter, is as busy as ever!

Not only are her hands full vying for the title of ace reporter for the Riviera Express after a new hotshot journalist appears on the scene, by the name of David Renishaw, but she is also trying to deal with the impending Christmas visit of her domineering mother...and now, bodies are once again turning up in the delightful seaside resort of Temple Regis.

And on top of all this, Judy has been asked by her old friend Geraldine Phipps to look into the suspicious death of an old socialite acquaintance of hers many years before. Where to even start with this one?

Can Judy solve the mysteries of the murders happening now and the suspicious death from the past, while negotiating the ups and downs of her personal life, against the backdrop of political machinations in picturesque Temple Regis? She is going to give it a damn good try!

*********************************************************************************

This is my first Judy Dimont Mystery and it is 1950s-fabulous!

A cosy murder mystery set between the Wars is normally my preference - such as an early Poirot - but I have to say that this book has dug a great big place in my heart for the 1950s!

As book four in the series, it did take me a little while to get my head around all the characters in Temple Regis that have been established in the first three books, but I was soon off and running with the goings-on in Devon's prettiest sea-side resort. There are some great characters here - small town stick-in-the-muds, cranky old timers, thrusting new-comers and all the eccentrics you would expect to find in a Devon sea-side resort - all beautifully written to fit into the post-War years of the Fifties, with all the promise of the Swinging Sixties ahead.

I particularly enjoyed that Judy and many of her female compatriots (be they of a past or new generation) are beautifully written to be strong, intelligent and more than able to hold their own. I also loved that Judy is a woman in her fifties with an amazing past - this was so refreshing, as a reader in my fifties myself. It was very interesting to see Judy and her female friends coping with life in a small traditionally minded town, and the plot-line about women standing for election to become MPs in the male bastion of the House of Commons was great.

The plot-lines are complex and weave together in an engrossing way. I found I was ahead of Judy about the identity of one of the characters here, but it was lovely see see her put the pieces together and catch-up, once she was past the distracting visit from her mother! There was still plenty left for me to find out by the time I got to the end of the book, but I was not expecting a cliff-hanger!

Although Temple Regis is fictional, I lived some years in Torquay as a teenager and found many delicious little nods towards Torbay, Dartmouth and the surrounding area here, which absolutely charmed me. You ca also tell that the author is most certainly a cat person - another tick from me!

This is one of those books that draws you into a series. I am intrigued to find out where the next book will go, as I am now very fond of Judy and her friends - with a soft-spot for Terry and his camera obsessed ways, who reminds me of my own father in his 1950s hey day. But I have also enjoyed Died and Gone To Devon so much that I will be going back to read the first three books too, over the next few months, for the back story - always a massive compliment from me!

If you like your murder mysteries intelligent, cosy and nostalgic, then I highly recommend Died And Gone To Devon. If the vibe from the excellent Father Brown series with Mark Williams appeals to you, then this will too.

Was this review helpful?

Christmas is on its way and, while the staff of the Riviera Express newspaper might initially just be looking forward to the fact that there’s no paper published that week, it soon becomes clear that the festive season will be another hectic one for the residents of Temple Regis, still arguably the most attractive town on the English Riviera. In fact, the winter of 1959 looks likely to provide further evidence that Temple Regis is the “Murder Capital of England”, much to Inspector Topham’s chagrin.

First, Miss Greenway, one of the local librarians, is found dead, seemingly having fallen from the top of a ladder while shelving. The local police believe it to be an accident, but it’s certainly a strange one – Miss Greenway was well known for her fear of heights and so she always made the tea rather than doing the high shelving. It’s exactly the kind of odd incident that would normally attract the attention of Judy Dimont, former British intelligence officer turned chief reporter of the Riviera Express turned keen and incredibly successful amateur sleuth. However, this time round, Miss Dimont is distracted by the impending arrival of her mother, who is coming to spend Christmas in Temple Regis in an effort to persuade Judy to move back to the family home in Essex, and so she gives the incident only a cursory write-up.

Yet, just a few weeks later, Mirabel Clifford, the new Conservative candidate following the retirement of long-term and generally disliked MP Sir Freddy Hungerford, is found murdered at the top of the Temple Regis lighthouse. Miss Dimont had had some dealings with Mirabel Clifford and considered her to be a good politician (as far as politicians go), so she determines to solve the murder. It certainly helps that her mother has now gone home, but Miss Dimont doesn’t exactly have a surfeit of spare time. She’s also promised her friend Geraldine Phipps that she will look into the death, some 25 years earlier, of society girl Pansy Westerham. Plus, a new reporter, David Renishaw, fresh from Fleet Street, has started at the Riviera Express and Miss Dimont is going to have to watch her back if she is to remain the paper’s star reporter.

Died and Gone to Devon is the fourth of T.P. Fielden’s Miss Dimont mysteries, but like the other books in the series, it could really be read as a standalone story. However, Miss Dimont isn’t quite herself in this book; she’s preoccupied with her own affairs and so isn’t exactly on the ball when it comes to all the murder and intrigue going on around her. For this reason, readers will get a better introduction to her character and her mystery solving skills if they do start with the earlier novels. Still, after a slow start, she does get cracking with the investigation in the end and is once again able to prove that she is a better detective/reporter than anyone Scotland Yard/Fleet Street has to offer.

It’s actually not only Miss Dimont who seems to be having a bit of down time in Died and Gone to Devon, as the local gossip machine doesn’t seem to be functioning to its normal standard either. As previous books have shown, Miss Dimont knows all the local characters and so hears all the gossip that Temple Regis has to offer, but her regular informants seem to be rather reticent during the events of this book. Luckily, most of them do crop up in the end, some with vital information to offer, which is good because, in addition to helping solve the murders, the oddness of the local community and its resemblance to the closed-circle communities featured in so many books from the golden age of mystery is one of the most appealing characteristics of the Miss Dimont series.

Another key characteristic of the series is the humour and Died and Gone to Devon features plenty of that. The cameo by Fanny Craddock, visiting Temple Regis to officially open the town’s first launderette, is one of the funniest moments, but the staff of the Riviera Express and other local residents provide plenty of laughs too. Newcomer to the series Professor Sirraway and his one-man protest movement against Sir Freddy Hungerford represents a further humorous aspect to the story that may or may not have some relevance to the murders – it certainly leads to some added complications for Miss Dimont’s investigation.

With Died and Gone to Devon, T.P. Fielden has added another charming instalment to the Miss Dimont mysteries series. The story is populated by an impressive cast of eccentric (and, of course, potentially murderous) characters, and it features a good number to red herrings, which help to ensure that readers are kept guessing as Miss Dimont furthers her investigation. There are still plenty of secrets, jealousies and intrigues bubbling away beneath the apparently quiet surface of Temple Regis and it’s up to Miss Dimont and her fellow reporters to uncover the truth.

Was this review helpful?

A fun read, and though I always love a good mystery I did find this somehow didn't have enough 'mystery' for me. There was something a bit disappointing to have such a great premise fall a bit flat, but, I still found it an enjoyable read due to the characters. Just the crime/murder seemed to have no presence in the book.

Was this review helpful?

This was an interesting murder mystery set in the 1950s. There are multiple murders to solve, both in the present day, and in the past. There were a few interesting characters, but I didn’t feel I really got to know any of them. Possibly this is due to this being the third book in the series.

I found the first half of the book a little slow for my taste - it just seemed to take forever for anything to happen, and there was lots of (seemingly) irrelevant information. The second half had better pacing, but I still didn’t really feel involved with the story - I think this is down to my lack of connection to the characters. I was also expecting a little more humour (there wasn’t any) based on the pun in the title.

If you don’t mind a slightly rambling style, then this may be the book for you. I would recommend starting with the first book in the series, as you may connect more with the characters.

Was this review helpful?