A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs

A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs (The Felse Investigations, 4) Ellis Peters. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781504027090) 2015, first published in 1965.

Summary: When a poet’s tomb is opened, two newer bodies are found, the poet’s is missing and his wife’s buried alive.

The Felse family is vacationing in Cornwall when they are drawn into a mysteries that are like a matryoshka doll, one inside the other. It all begins when Dominic Felse, their athletic eighteen year old son is walking along the shores and spies a young boy struggling in dangerous tidal waters. Young Felse jumps in to rescue him. But the young boy, Paddy Rosall resists rescue. He’d seen someone floating in the water. Dominic doesn’t see a body and so “rescues” young Paddy. As they get to shore, Paddy’s uncle Simon Towne sees them. And he attempts to search the waters. In vain.

All this serves to introduce the Felses to a close knit circle of relations. We also learn that Simon returned to do research that involves opening the tomb of Jan Treverra. He even invites George and Dominic Felse to help in opening the tomb. But they don’t find what they’d expected. When they open Jan’s vault, they discover the still-sodden body of Zebedee Trethuen, the church verger who begged Simon not to open the vault. Paddy had seen a body! Then they find another surprise. When they open the Jan’s casket, Jan’s bones aren’t there but rather the body of a more recently buried man. Later, when they return, they find items of treasure by Morwenna’s vault. They decide to open that vault. Morwenna’s body was there, but in a pose that showed she was buried alive and struggled to get out.

Meanwhile, Paddy has gone missing. They fear he saw the murderer and is in danger. But he was exploring a tunnel in which he found a gold piece after running off from chores. A relative just had told him of his adoption. Tim and Phil were not his biological parents. He had just needed to get away and think.

Mysteries within mysteries. Felse and local Detective Sergeant Hewitt investigate but it is Dominic who inadvertently comes up with a key clue. It’s in Jan and Morwenna’s epitaph.

And as for Paddy? I’ll leave you to discover how things resolve, but if you’ve read other Peter’s stories, you should know you won’t be unhappy with the end.

I loved the mysteries within mysteries stretching back to Jan and Morwenna, a fascinating plot. In addition, Peters offers fantastic bit of description of the deadly tide and the struggle of Paddy and Dominic that draws you into the story. I wasn’t quite sure of the reason for Tamsin Holt in the story, other than the electricity between her and Dominic. But then, it wouldn’t be a Peters story without a bit of romance!

The Knocker on Death’s Door

The Knocker on Death’s Door (The Felse Investigations, 10), Ellis Peters. Mysterious Press (ISBN: 9781504027151) 2015, first published in 1970.

Summary: Felse investigates two assaults, one a murder, by a church door that has a legend associated with its knocker.

What is it about that door? Legend had it that the knocker on the newly restored parish door was dangerous to sinners, whose hands could be burned if they touch it. But shortly after the celebration of its restoration, two men are assaulted. One of them, Gary Bracewell, was a freelance writer who had returned to the village to look at the door and its knocker. He was found dead at the base of the door, a hand reaching toward the knocker. A blow to the head killed him. A similar blow concussed the other victim.

Inspector Felse, a friend of Sgt. Moon, the local officer in charge, is in the area and joins the investigation. We learn that the door came from a decaying old house, part of a former abbey. The remnants of the Macsen-Martel family live there. Robert, the elder son, manages the home and cares for his ailing mother. However, Hugh, the younger, lives elsewhere and is a business partner with Dave at an automotive shop. Hugh races cars and is dating Dave’s sister Dinah. Robert discovered that the door, used for their wine cellar, had come from the parish church and arranged for the restoration.

The mystery deepens when Dave, who had repaired the steering on Bracewell’s car returns it to his widow. Because he was curious why Bracewell came back to the door, he learned that Bracewell had first seen the door when he wrote a story on the Macsen-Martel house. But the widow could share no reason for the interest. But he had search through photographs. So Dave searches out the photographer, Alix, and eventually they figure out the reason for Bracewell’s interest in the door and its knocker.

They pass all this on to Felse, which leads to the discovery of another body, accompanied by a suitcase! Felse methodically puts the pieces together just in time to prevent one more murder in the exciting climax to the story.

Ellis Peters (a.k.a. Edith Mary Pargeter) is probably most famous as the author of The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael. I read the whole series, enjoying characters, plotting, and good writing. Now I discover this series, albeit out of order, which didn’t seem to be a problem. I suspect you’ll see more reviews featuring Inspector Felse in the future! (And one spoiler: Dave and Alix get together, a trademark, it seems of an Ellis Peters story.)