MANNA FROM HADES, my 50th book and first of my new Cornish mystery series, came out last month. I've had some great reviews already, including this, from the Richmond, Virginia Times-Dispatch:
Cornwall-set debut is a winner
Jay Strafford
March 15, 2009 4:53 PM
A new series is always a welcome treat for mystery fans, and when it’s set in an English village, all the better. Carola Dunn — the author of the long-running Daisy Dalrymple series — starts afresh in “Manna From Hades” (305 pages, Minotaur Books, $24.95), set in the fictional village of Port Mabyn in Cornwall. There, the sixtyish, widowed Eleanor Trewynn spends her time working in a thrift shop, the proceeds of which go to charity. When she discovers what appears to be a fortune in jewelry in a donated briefcase, she’s amazed. When she finds the corpse of a teenage boy in the shop’s storeroom, she’s appalled. But with the help of her niece, Detective Sgt. Megan Pencarrow; her neighbors, vicar’s wife Joceyln Stearns and artist Nick Gresham; and her West Highland white terrier, Teazle, all comes right.
Dunn — a native of England who now lives in Oregon — is equally talented at spinning a good yarn and peopling it with humorous and sympathetic characters, and “Manna From Hades” covers both bases. Readers will want to see more of this appealing cast.
Ain't that nice?
Booklist: Dunn has a knack for writing meatier-than-usual cozies
with strong female characters, and she has another charming winner here.
Publishers Weekly: ...this lively first in a new cozy series...Adept at showing character through witty dialogue, Dunn paints an amusing picture of a small town that readers will want to visit again soon.
The Oregonian: The smoothly written mystery goes down as easily as a cream tea. ...For those who like their mysteries on the cozy side, with a little humor, a little romance and a spot of tea, "Manna From Hades" is the perfect confection.
Kirkus: Welcome to Cornwall, beautiful land of Cornish pasties, cream teas and murder.... Shades of Miss Marple. Dunn’s departure from Daisy Dalrymple is a serviceable modern-day version of the classic English village mystery.
Oh well, when you write "cosy" mysteries, what can you expect of Kirkus? They did give me a star once upon a time.
MY CONNECTION WITH CORNWALL
People have been asking what is my connection with Cornwall. I must have been 8 years old, I think, the first time we went there--"we" being my mother, my godmother, my sister and brother and I. We went to the south coast, a village called Mullion, and stayed in a farmhouse bed and breakfast.
I may not be able to remember the title of the book I was reading last night, but I still know the names of the farmer and his wife (Doug and Marge), and those of the five freighters we saw in Falmouth Harbour, while taking a boat tour: Eradona, Lyria, British Destiny, British Diligence and British Resolution. I remember making Eradona into a song which we kids sang all the way home. (Why any of us survived our childhoods I can't understand!)
The following year, my godmother, Bet, found a farmer in North Cornwall who rented her a field on the outskirts of Crackington Haven, overlooking the sea. There she parked her little caravan, with a view of the two headlands, Cambeak and Penkenna. And there the caravan stayed for the next thirty years or so.
We used to go down every summer, and often at Easter too. We got to know the North Coast from Clovelly to Padstow: Bude, Widemouth (Widdymth) Bay, St Gennys, Rocky Valley, Boscastle, Tintagel, Port Isaac; and Bodmin Moor--a favourite hike was to the top of Rough Tor to climb the huge rocks piled there by mythical giants.
One of my earliest Regencies, The Miser's Sister, is set on Bodmin Moor.
Bet's caravan was still on the cliff-top when my son first visited England at the age of 18 months. I have a photo of him stealing grapes from the "refrigerator," an old-fashioned meat-safe. The field had two disused water tanks, from one of which we were able to siphon washing water, though drinking water had to be carried up the hill from a friendly neighbour. There was a chemical loo in a tent behind one tank, where one could sit and watch the sun set between the headlands.
My present connection with Cornwall is that my sister lives on the Cornish bank of the Tamar, the river that separates Cornwall from Devon, north of Plymouth. She's just a few miles downstream from Cotehele, a 15th century fortified manor house. The first time I saw Cotehele, I knew I had to write about it. I was writing Regencies then, and I used it as the setting for Smugglers' Summer. After Daisy came into my life, I set a mystery there: Mistletoe and Murder. And I expect that one day Eleanor Trewynn, my sleuth in the Cornish mysteries, will find herself mixed up in murder at Cotehele, though her home is on the North Coast.
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