Dead Man Riding

Nell Bray #10

by Gillian Linscott

In the last summer of Queen Victoria's reign it was not considered 'proper' for unmarried women to go travelling with members of the opposite sex. But Nell Bray can't understand why she and a mixed group of her student friends should not stay with an uncle of one of them, and they decide to risk the wrath of their colleges. Their intention is to discuss philosophy and literature and to walk the fells of the Lake District. However, when they arrive they find that Alan's uncle, the 'old man', having spoken out against the Boer War, has been ostracised by the village and is suspected of having murdered the local magistrate's son even though no body has been found. Her curiosity piqued by this tale, and by the old man's unconventional household, Nell determines to separate the facts from the myth. But first of all love gets in the way, and then the old man is discovered dead. At first it seems he chose a spectacular method of suicide to avoid scandal and ill health, but Nell then works out that he could not have killed himself in this way without help and she suspects that one of their party is a murderer ...

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Gillian Linscott introduced her popular suffragette/sleuth, Nell Bray, in the critically acclaimed Sister Beneath the Sheet. A BBC reporter turned full-time writer, she lives in Herefordshire, England.

Linscott has also published several titles under the pseudonym Caro Peacock.

Reviews

[Marfita · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was quite a relief after that Lawrence Block book. There is not much suspense, but much pleasant traipsing around adventure and genteel poking and prodding.
Nell Bray and her Oxford friends go on a slightly scandalous (for the era) co-ed philosophy outing during the summer. Alan has invited three young women to accompany the young men ... and one young don, Meredith. They are still wound up with Victorian proprieties even though they plan to discuss Plato's Republic. Their destination is the estate of Alan's great-uncle, a raiser of Arabian horses that the neighbors are calling a murderer ... and the old man himself doesn't disagree. He did fire a shotgun at a mob setting fire to his barn and one of them has disappeared. Worse, the victim's father is Magistrate.
Nell and her female friends actually have bloomers to wear, discuss sexual equality, and agonize over whether or not to have sexual relations with the men. Their seriousness is both annoying and endearing.
SPOILER
Oh come ON, you can tell from the beginning that there's some homosexuality floating around. Crikey! The only surprise is that it's unrequited. And then she goes and includes Plato's Symposium with Aristophanes' famous three sexes concept, male/male, female/female, and male/female and how the halves became separated from each other and ever since they seek their other half. It might only be hinted at, but any familiarity with Plato or "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" would clue the reader in.
As for the murderer, I was torn between the two least likely, which multiplied my chances of being right. Yeah, I was right. But why the victim had to be, had to be, tied to a horse was beyond me. It was as if the title came first.
Moderately enjoyable. Wouldn't be against reading more.

[Dora Okeyo · Rating 5 out of 5]

The old man tells Nell, "If you want anything, you just have to go and take it. If you all wanted it enough, you'd have had it by now."

If there is one thing I appreciated about this book, is the pace. It is slow and steady as Nell unravels the mystery of the old man's death, and the matter concerning his will.

The year is 1900, and young women are getting education but they are still second class citizens to the men, and Alan's invitation to his Uncle's place is a relief to the friends.
The opening sentence to the epilogue is nothing but an unfolding of events and personalities as you realize that you did overlook the characters.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nell is a "modern woman" in 1900, a student at Oxford. She spends a summer with friends in the Lake District, hiking, discussing philosophy, experiencing romance, and investigating a murder.

[Margaret Stickland · Rating 3 out of 5]

first in this series that I have read and if kept me interested to the last page.