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Jul. 31st, 2010 05:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jennariaMURDER ON THE CLIFFS, by Joanna Challis.
Cover copy: Young Daphne du Maurier is headstrong, adventurous, and standing on the cusp of greatness.
Walking on the cliffs in Cornwall on a dark and stormy day just after the Great War has finally come to an end, Daphne stumbles upon the drowned body of a beautiful woman, dressed only in a nightgown, her hair strewn along the rocks, her eyes gazing up to the heavens. Daphne soon learns that the mysterious woman was engaged to marry Lord Hartley of Padthaway, an Elizabethan mansion full of intriguing secrets.
As the daughter of the famous Sir Gerald du Maurier, Daphne is welcomed into the Hartley home, but when the drowning of Miss Victoria Bastion turns out to be murder, Daphne determines to get to the bottom of the mysteries of Padthaway - in part to find fresh inspiration for her writing, and in part because she is irresistably drawn to the romance of grand houses and long-buried secrets.
MURDER ON THE CLIFFS is an enthralling mystery that gives fictional life to the inspiration behind Daphne du Maurier's classic REBECCA.
Gender of detective: female
Everyone always asks authors where they got their ideas. The truth generally has more to do with 'I read this article in the newspaper' or 'this one small thing happened to me, and I extrapolated' or 'well, I was in the shower one day...' Which isn't what they want to hear. We want to hear that authors Actually Experienced something that led to this.
I don't know exactly how true my theory is. But given the number of mysteries, in particular, that feature authors in situations remarkably like the books that would later make the authors famous, I suspect I'm not totally off.
The history in this example of the genre isn't totally accurate. Daphne du Maurier published several books before REBECCA, and the character who is apparently meant to be the man she eventually married has, according to Wikipedia, the wrong first name. But the point of the book isn't historical accuracy. The point is to take Daphne du Maurier and throw her into a situation that is similar to but not exactly the same as REBECCA. The dead first love, the love affair with the man left behind, the house with its possessive housekeeper... I haven't read REBECCA, but even I recognize the elements.
That's probably its greatest weakness as far as I'm concerned, though. I haven't read REBECCA, so I will not and cannot pick up on all the connections. It's not bad, but I suspect I'm missing the part that might make it anything more.
*
Here begins a triple play! Next up, another detective author!
Team Mariposa, Blogathon 2010. Sponsor me!
Cover copy: Young Daphne du Maurier is headstrong, adventurous, and standing on the cusp of greatness.
Walking on the cliffs in Cornwall on a dark and stormy day just after the Great War has finally come to an end, Daphne stumbles upon the drowned body of a beautiful woman, dressed only in a nightgown, her hair strewn along the rocks, her eyes gazing up to the heavens. Daphne soon learns that the mysterious woman was engaged to marry Lord Hartley of Padthaway, an Elizabethan mansion full of intriguing secrets.
As the daughter of the famous Sir Gerald du Maurier, Daphne is welcomed into the Hartley home, but when the drowning of Miss Victoria Bastion turns out to be murder, Daphne determines to get to the bottom of the mysteries of Padthaway - in part to find fresh inspiration for her writing, and in part because she is irresistably drawn to the romance of grand houses and long-buried secrets.
MURDER ON THE CLIFFS is an enthralling mystery that gives fictional life to the inspiration behind Daphne du Maurier's classic REBECCA.
Gender of detective: female
Everyone always asks authors where they got their ideas. The truth generally has more to do with 'I read this article in the newspaper' or 'this one small thing happened to me, and I extrapolated' or 'well, I was in the shower one day...' Which isn't what they want to hear. We want to hear that authors Actually Experienced something that led to this.
I don't know exactly how true my theory is. But given the number of mysteries, in particular, that feature authors in situations remarkably like the books that would later make the authors famous, I suspect I'm not totally off.
The history in this example of the genre isn't totally accurate. Daphne du Maurier published several books before REBECCA, and the character who is apparently meant to be the man she eventually married has, according to Wikipedia, the wrong first name. But the point of the book isn't historical accuracy. The point is to take Daphne du Maurier and throw her into a situation that is similar to but not exactly the same as REBECCA. The dead first love, the love affair with the man left behind, the house with its possessive housekeeper... I haven't read REBECCA, but even I recognize the elements.
That's probably its greatest weakness as far as I'm concerned, though. I haven't read REBECCA, so I will not and cannot pick up on all the connections. It's not bad, but I suspect I'm missing the part that might make it anything more.
*
Here begins a triple play! Next up, another detective author!
Team Mariposa, Blogathon 2010. Sponsor me!