Death of a Gay Dog

Tessa Crichton #3

by Anne Morice

‘You’ll be the death of me one of these days. I’m telling you.’ ‘I’ll be the death of myself first,’ I replied. The soignée young actress Tessa Crichton is in dazzling form when Robin, her husband and Scotland Yard detective, suggests sleuthing in the Sussex village of Burleigh. The area has recently seen a number of art thefts, but the stakes are raised considerably when murder most foul occurs at a local party . . . Tessa of course cannot resist a mystery. Her investigations run parallel with her husband’s, and although she is soon on the right track, there will be bizarre and dangerous consequences. Strange and brilliant characters, odd birds of paradise, are among the suspects in this cleverly-plotted whodunit. Here are character, action, humour – and a very high likelihood of being deceived (despite fair clues) about the identity of the murderer. Death of a Gay Dog was originally published in 1971. This new edition features an introduction and afterword by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans. ‘An ingenious plot and good entertainment value – the type of whodunit that can safely be read late at night without fear of nightmares.’ Woman’s Journal ‘Certain to the add to the reputation of Tessa . . . entertainingly and cheerfully written.’ Manchester Evening News

192 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1971

About the author

Birth name: Felicity Shaw

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tessa Crichton's new husband Robin Price has a hunch that a gang of art thieves are headquartered near a peaceful, expensive village in Sussex. Fortunately, one of Tessa's many connections lives there, and is able to invite them to stay. While attending a dinner party, they are on the spot when one of the guests is murdered. But does the death have something to do with the art thieves, or are there other motives?

[Eugene · Rating 3 out of 5]

3rd in this series, I’ve been enjoying reading them. Not deep or serious, mostly light-hearted sendups of the landed, wealthy set in that time, and quite well done at that. If you’re looking for weighty, complex mystery, these won’t be for you.
Here, Tessa Crichton’s Scotland Yard detective husband Robin asks her to wangle an invitation to her Aunt’s house in the Sussex village of Burleigh, thus allowing him excellent cover to look into a number of recent art thefts in that area. She does and he does, but things escalate quickly when there’s murder added to the mix. As always, irrepressible Tessa gets involved in the sleuthing and actually learns a good bit of what’s going on; when she and Robin join forces, the case is solved, not without Tessa’s turn as a “damsel in distress.”
Plenty of oddball characters as always (they really are the heart of these tales), action and humor in the telling, and a fine adventure for all readers.

[Shauna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really enjoying this series, but this book is unbearable.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well firstly the title. It certainly would have raised a few eyebrows in some of the louche bars I frequented in my youth. However...I persevered... to little effect.

Were Tessa to work in tandem with her Scotland Yard detective husband it might make better reading for me but that she constantly is so much more insightful etc. etc. is a step too far.

I stopped with this one and will read no more.