The Missing Masterpiece

July 17, 2017
In Dams’s entertaining 19th mystery featuring American expatriate Dorothy Martin (after 2016’s Smile and Be a Villain), the former school teacher leaves her comfortable home in Sherebury, England, for a holiday in Normandy, where her English husband, retired chief constable Alan Nesbit, vows to join her shortly. A tumble down the steps of the abbey at Mont Saint-Michel lands Dorothy in the middle of a mystery involving a missing tourist, a person pulled from quicksand, and rumors of an undiscovered medieval manuscript that’s drawing scholars and adventure hunters to the vicinity. Dorothy won’t allow her two titanium knees and her need for naps and decent meals to slow her down. When Alan arrives on the scene, his fluent French and police contacts provide crucial information. No one dies until late in the book, but along the way readers learn a lot about such subjects as the D-Day landing at Omaha beach, the Bayeux tapestry, and the history of illuminated manuscripts. Armchair travelers will be pleased. Agent: Kimberley Cameron, Kimberley Cameron Agency.

July 15, 2017
A sprightly travelogue with intermittent mysterious overtones.When retired Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt breaks his ankle, he insists that his wife, Dorothy Martin, set out alone on their planned trip to a gallery opening in Bayeux until he's recovered enough to travel. About to leave Normandy for Mont-Saint-Michel, Dorothy runs into her friend Penny Brannigan, who shares both a news report about a German woman who nearly drowned in the quicksand near the Mont and a tale going around the art world of forged or stolen medieval manuscripts. Upon her arrival, Dorothy tags along with a tour group guided by young Englishman Peter Cummings. During a stop for some first aid after she slips and falls, they get into a discussion of medieval monk Peter Abelard. The contemporary Peter, a graduate student in liturgical music and hymnody, dreams of making his career by finding some remnant of Abelard's musical manuscripts. Before Alan arrives, another unidentified person is found badly injured in the crypt at the Mont. Despite her limited language skills, Dorothy, with her nose for mysteries, senses a connection. Far too many people seem interested in Abelard and manuscripts, and some of them, like American A.T. Krider, who says he's writing a novel, seem to be lying about their interest. The German woman turns out to be not a woman at all but American college professor Sam Houston, who claims that someone tricked him into venturing out onto the dangerous sands and left him to die in the incoming tide. He too is interested in Abelard, and the overwhelmed local police ask Dorothy and the newly arrived Alan to keep watch on him and all those other potential liars. Dorothy and Alan are a clever pair whose adventures (Smile and Be a Villain, 2016, etc.) always charm even if their mysteries do not.

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 15, 2017
When Dorothy Martin, the retired American schoolteacher and amateur sleuth living in England, takes a trip to France, it isn't long before the usual sort of intrigue that seems to follow her anywhere she goes finds her yet again. But what could a missing archaeologist, a dead woman, and a nearly dead man possibly have to do with the long-dead philosopher and theologian Peter Abelard? The Dorothy Martin series has been consistently strong, and this new installment continues the pattern. The writing is crisp, the cast of characters is richly described, and the story is delightfully convoluted. For fans of Dams' brand of mystery, this one's a sure-fire hit.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)