Our book of the month for August is Murder On Mustique by Anne Glenconner. We give you our Big Review below.
***Our Big Reviews are written from the point of view that you have read the book. If this is not yet you, bookmark the page and come back once you have***
Murder On Mustique – the blurb
Mustique is in a state of breathless calm as tropical storm Cristobal edges towards it across the Atlantic. Most villa owners have escaped the island but a few young socialites remain, unwilling to let summer’s partying end. American heiress Amanda Fortini is one such thrill-seeker – until she heads out for a morning swim and doesn’t return.
Detective Sergeant Solomon Nile is just 28 years old and the island’s only fully trained police officer. He quickly realises he needs to contact Lord and Lady Blake, who bought the island decades ago and have invested time, money and love creating a paradise. Jasper is in St Lucia designing a new village of luxury villas but Lady Veronica (Vee to her friends) catches a plane immediately. Her beloved god-daughter, Lily, is on the island and this disappearance has alarming echoes of what happened to Lily’s mother many years ago. Lady Vee would never desert a friend in need, and she can keep a cool head in a crisis.
When Amanda’s body is found, a murder investigation begins. Nile knows the killer must be an islander because flights and ferry crossings have stopped due to the storm warning, but the local community isn’t co-operating. And then the storm hits, and someone else disappears . . .
A Love Story
Of course Murder On Mustique is a crime story but what radiates from the book is Glenconner’s love of the island of Mustique. So much I had to stop once or twice to Google things like Basil’s Bar and Britannia Bay. The composition of the Island, how tourism and wealth has changed it and how far it still has to come is all looked at.
Whereas Mustique shined, the murder elements lagged slightly behind. At times it felt very formulaic with too many male suspects. I never also really understood why the killer wanted to stop the coral grafts. As the reveal was, erm, revealed Phillip’s reasons were weak. He killed once many years ago then stopped until some cool kids stopped hanging around with him quite as much? The relationships between him, Amanda and Tommy were never really established so the reader wouldn’t really get the motivation. And his lack of sea legs and ear infection were played on way too much!
I liked the alternating chapters but didn’t get why Nile had Lily and Vee tag along quite as much as they did. Nile was seriously saint like, as was Lily and I would have liked them to have at least a frayed hem between them.
Summer read
All is not lost however as Glenconner’s fascinating life and the elements of truth she blended into the plot give it another star at least. It certainly sets itself out from other crime novels out there which is hard to do in an overcrowded market. It’s a summer read certainly, but if you like your crime novels you may be disappointed.
Get Involved
If you would like to get involved with our Book Of The Month try answering our Book Club questions published every month. Just search in our footnotes section for the ‘Get Involved’ articles. We review a new book every month so keep your eyes peeled for the Lowdown on September’s book of the month soon.
