Invitation to Die

Inspector Redfyre Mystery #2

by Barbara Cleverly

An invitation to dine turns deadly as DI John Redfyre returns for his second investigation.
 
Cambridge, 1924 in early summertime. May Balls, punting on the Cam, flirting and dancing the tango are the preoccupations of bright young people, but bright young Detective Inspector John Redfyre finds himself mired in multiple murders.
 
One morning, his dog discovers a corpse neatly laid on a tombstone in the graveyard adjoining St. Bede’s College. An army greatcoat and well-worn boots suggest the dead man may have been a former soldier, though the empty bottle of brandy and a card bearing the words “An Invitation to Dine” on the victim ring a discordant note. Even more unsettling is the autopsy, which reveals death by strangulation and unusual contents in the stomach from the man’s last meal. Redfyre learns that this murder is one of several unsolved cases linked to a secretive and sinister dining club at St. Bede’s.
 
Redfyre, himself an ex-rifleman, becomes caught in a dark tale of revenge, betrayal and injustice—a lingering mystery from a long-forgotten war. With the unlikely assistance of his lead suspect, he gradually unearths the dead man’s story and fights to right an ancient wrong.
 

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Historical, Historical Mystery, Fiction, British Literature, Audiobook

353 pages, Hardcover

First published August 6, 2019

About the author

Barbara Cleverly was born in the north of England and is a graduate of Durham University. A former teacher, she has spent her working life in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk; she now lives in Cambridge. She has one son and five step-children.

Her Joe Sandilands series of books set against the background of the British Raj was inspired by the contents of a battered old tin trunk that she found in her attic. Out of it spilled two centuries of memories of a family – especially a great uncle who spent a lot of time in India – whose exploits and achievements marched in time with the flowering of the British Empire.

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. This was confusing from the start. An interrogation of a suspect by Inspector Redfyre becomes pages and pages of details about battles during the war. After about 50 pages of this I decided not to wait for the actual story to begin. I enjoyed the first book in the series, but I have too many other books to read to spend any more time with this one.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Old Dickie was just a Cambridge tramp, a plentiful category in the 1920's. So why should he suddenly turn murderous? Or, to put it another way, why would several people want to kill him? Or maybe first we should ask why anyone should be eager to ask him to dinner? Inspector John Redfyre has all these questions to answer, and whenever he finds someone to question, the answers are, to be kind, not helpful. I enjoyed this book, as I did number one in the series, but pay careful attention to the chapter headings--they tell you when the different scenes occur, and since this book is not arranged chronologically, readers will need all the help they can get. Well, so does Dickie, in the long run.

[Lee Ann]

This book was not for me, I did not care for any of the pompous verbose characters, the story line was fractured and tedious and one third of the way through the book, it appears that the mystery and body may be discovered. I was looking for a new series that I thought I might enjoy, this was not it. Rarely do I not finish a book, but two weeks to drag through 125 pages is telling for me. It is due back at the library and I am gladly returning it unfinished.

[Annarella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even if I liked the setting and found this book entertaining I'm in two mind about how to rate it.
There's a lot of potential but I found the book confusing and it was hard to be engaged in the story or connect to the characters.
Sometimes I was confused by the sudden change of plot and found to understand who the characters were.
I think that a simpler plot would have helped and make this book more entertaining and engrossing.
Many thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for this ARC, all opinions are mine

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

This tangled web of unrelated deaths are investigated by John Redfyre & his boss, Supt. Macfarlane. They begin with an unnamed tramp who has been living hard. Or has he? And how is his death related to the very large box of cold cases that trouble Macfarlane's sleep? And how is Redfyre's feminist Aunt Hetty & her hive of young women activists involved? All this is related to a Cambridge don's dinner club & the South African war. Whew! How will they solve it all? It's a really good & engrossing romp through 1920's Cambridge with interesting characters & a really great story.

[Sunaina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Better than even the first. Gripping, clever and historically breathtaking.

[Retroredux · Rating 5 out of 5]

Different, but better...

Than the first book. The author is cementing in her characters. Foibles, flaws, quirks and all. I like this series.

[Martina · Rating 4 out of 5]

#2 in Cleverly's Detective Inspector Redfyre Investigation series. To be published by Soho Crime August 6, 2019. Set in 1924 Cambridge, Redfyre has to deal with a series of unsolved cases, links to the college precincts, 'An Invitation to Dine' private group, and a diverse group of possible suspects. As Redfyre's investigation continues, a suspect recounts the dark back story of a group of men caught up in the worst of the horrors many were subjected to during the Boer War. Those circumstances and the actions of one of the group of six men serving together weave into the present series of deaths.

The Mystery Book Group read the first of Cleverly's Joe Sandilands investigations, The Last Kashmiri Rose. I loved that series. The Redfyre series started with last year's Fall of Angels. The only problem I had with this book may have been due to reading an advance uncopyedited version. Some of the few rough spots will undoubtedly be smoothed out in the final edition. Cleverly seems to have an instinct for the right touches to put the reader into the story's time and the milieu. I loved the street display given by the dancing school, especially the great tango demo by the school's owner and Redfyre! A great touch.... Pushed me into a 4 star rating.

[Vontel]

Very disappointing book, particularly since I liked the first Redfyre book, & a number of author's Sandilands books. Unfortunately, many of the comments in earlier reviews were accurate.

I couldn't read cover to cover in this book. I tried to stick to it, but the book jumped back & forth too much between time points & plots, to the point that I couldn't care enough about most of the characters. After the first 20-25% of the book, I jumped chapters & read chunks, hoping it would pick up, & finally to the end, glad I hadn't spent any more than an hour & a half or so on it. I don't know if the historical info is based on real events or not.

I do applaud the author for delving into some history of the Boer war & the true motivations for it, and of colonialism. Unfortunately, the motivations for war haven't changed much since. She also brought in the downfall of a military system that allowed rich people to purchase commissions as officers with little experience of what was needed for that kind of leadership, & a cavalier attitude to the soldiers who were doing the actual fighting.

[Alan M · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m a big fan of Golden Age crime. I’m also a fan of contemporary writers setting their crime stories in the GA era of the 1920s. I hadn’t read the first book in Barbara Cleverly’s DI John Redfyre series but, as with most series like this, I felt that as a stand-alone read this didn’t leave me feeling like I’d missed anything. Cleverly tries hard to ‘humanise’ her detective: he has a cheeky Jack Russell terrier called Snapper, and a witty Aunt Henrietta who is witty and terribly well-connected… The setting is Cambridge, the characters are colourful, the plot is complicated.

An ex-military man who fought in the Boer War, Richard ‘Dickie’ Dunne, is bizarrely invited to dine at a prestigious Cambridge college, St Jude’s. What he doesn’t know is that this is part of a monthly dinner party hosted by a group of men calling themselves the Amici Apicii, and their ‘fun’ is to taunt and humiliate their guest during the evening, a ritual where one of them is named the winner for landing the most verbal abuse. When a body is discovered next to the college a couple of days later, wearing the same clothes as Dickie Dunne, our inimitable detective gets on the case. What develops is a complicated plot that involves several deaths over the last few years in Cambridge, and events that happened in South Africa during the Boer War and involving Dickie and the five other men in his unit. The book jumps about in different time frames, back to the Boer War and forward from the investigation to an interview with a suspect. Can Redfyre, his able Sergeant Thoday, and his boss DS MacFarlane solve the case, and discover the links to the other deaths…?

Whilst I found this a reasonably enjoyable book, I just couldn’t quite get into the characters, and the tendency to long-winded conversations – usually one to one – meant that any momentum gained by an exciting incident was soon lost. It also means that the book is very wordy, and (for me) slightly over-long. Coming in at 350 pages this is way longer than an average GA crime novel and it became a bit of a slog at times. The ending is interesting, and does raise various questions about guilt and the process of justice, but overall this was only OK. Three stars, but I won’t be rushing to go back and read the first on the series.

[Jessi · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's 1924 and the Great War is over but no one knows quite what to do with the soldiers who came back, many of whom have seen conflict beyond what anyone has seen before. In Cambridge, one such soldier has been living on the streets. Well-known for being affable, Richard 'Dickie' Dunne is the latest man to be invited to dine with a group of Cambridge dons. It seems this group of six men enjoy feeding incredibly opulent meals those who they consider "less" (for a variety of reasons) and then slowly tearing them apart. But it's not just the dons who are at this meal, there is also a man with whom Dickie fought; one who shares a dangerous secret. And, at the end of the night, someone ends up dead.
This was very much modeled after mysteries actually written in the '20s - aka- it was very confusing to begin with, had a lot of references to Great Lit-er-a-chur, and lots of focus on the classes. Also, long-winded conversations that can make a person lose track of what, exactly, is going on in the book. I hadn't read the first book in the series but didn't feel like I was missing anything because of it. I did like the character development of Inspector Redfyre but didn't really connect with anyone else. Golden Age mystery fans will probably find this book quite entertaining but I'm not certain about others.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read that keeps you on your intellectual and historical toes! The staggered narrative structure (between two short time periods of about 3 weeks) was challenging as well as enticing, giving the reader clues before the mysteries that they referenced were exposed. As a result of these clues, I did think of a certain hiding place for missing loot before it was confirmed in the book!
I liked the character of Captain Richard Dunne and thought him well-developed, except for the reason behind his vagabond lifestyle. The Cambridge detective in this new series, John Redfrye, is clever, self-deprecating and charming. However, I don't understand the peripheral presence of his Aunt Hetty's no-name, no-clear-agenda Women's Watch, who figure here so slightly as to be more irritating than useful to any cause or plot line. And the inclusion of Rosamund Wells, while she did provide some impetus to the story, is otherwise just another comely female for Redfyre to admire from afar without doing anything about pursuing a relationship. Boring.
So, bottom line, I went along for the quips, puns, and jolly repartee, as well as for the widely-scattered puzzle pieces, but was not fond of the self-congratulatory ending and some classical allusions that eluded me, although I could guess at their meanings.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the most strangely organized mystery I've ever read. It starts with a chapter about a person who is of no importance to the plot whatsoever, starts to get into the mystery, then does a time jump to a suspect (in the murder that hasn't happened yet) talking to the detective and giving a lengthy war story, then jumps back to the discovery of the body and continues on from there. It's effectively an un-mystery. The order the story is told in completely robs it of any mystery other than "wtf?" (Okay, that's probably going too far, as you only get part of the solution before the question.)

If it had been told in chronological order it would've been better. Then the war story would actually be interesting, because we'd understand what it had to do with the plot and it would be answering questions we actually had. Also, the events prior to the murder should've been condensed. As it's written, it's as if the author expects us to be interested in events without context or any investment in the characters. Which makes for very odd reading. Hell, given that we find out some of the events during the investigation, you could probably start the book with the body being found, proceed chronologically and have a much more gripping read.

[Barb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the first book in this series last year when it was my local book group's monthly selection, and liked it enough to continue the series. Sadly, I should have left well enough alone. This book was confusing right from the start and loaded with far too much information about the Boer war. I was listening to the book, and I'll admit that my mind wandered during much of the sections detailing these historical aspects.

It took quite a long time to get to the actual, current-day crime, at which point the book picked up some, but still not as much as I'd hoped it would. There were a lot of characters, many of them with nicknames, which made it hard to keep everything and everyone straight. The title's meaning clicked early on in the investigation, but it wasn't until the tango instructor was introduced that I understood the cover art.

Probably because I wasn't truly invested in the story, I wasn't able to figure out who the killer was or the motive, and by the time it was revealed, I wasn't sure I really cared. Although I like Inspector Redfyre, the title character, and would like to read more about him, it's probably for the best that this series ends after this second book.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cambridge CID Inspector Redfyre is out walking his dog early one morning when his terrier discovers a body in the graveyard of the local parish church. The body is laid out dramatically on a sarcophagus, heels together and toes turned out, with shoes neatly lined up at his side. Autopsy reveals that the man was strangled and that he was not the vagrant he at first appeared to be. Instead, he is a Boer War veteran who had been operating as a private investigator. Several other corpses have been discovered around Cambridge in recent years, all staged in a similar fashion. All of them are unsolved murders. Redfyre and Superintendent McLaren meticulously begin to build their case, finding connections with the other dead men, interviewing everyone from the local save-the-bats society to the tango dancing niece of a Cambridge don and the grandmother of a potential victim, dancing, gardening and eating their way to a complex solution involving diamonds and chocolate bars. With erudite dialog, engaging characters and eccentric suspects, this whodunit was a wonderful way to pass the time on a plane.

[Lyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read two previous books in this series, and like both the author's style, and Inspector Redfyre. Set in 1924 Cambridge, Detective Inspector Redfyre is called to a cemetery to inspect a dead man laid out on top of a tombstone. Nice starter till the young detective gets a feeling some things about the corpse don't add up: menu of the full meal in the man's stomach as described by the pathologist, boots & socks which don't seem quite right, all identification removed from the military great coat & clothing, but just enough coin left in the man's pocket, so he couldn't be buried in an unmarked grave. Were they being led to assume the identity of an old soldier? If so, why? Of course, there are other corpses past & present equally offbeat, but is there a common thread? I suppose I enjoy mysteries set in an earlier time in England as the police didn't carry weapons unless there was definitely fireworks expected, so the author had to rely on the intelligence of the prime characters to make a story. This one did. I liked the book - read it.

[Kathleen Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting historical mystery featuring detestible Cambridge dons who have a back story that will slowly trickle out as Inspector John Redfyre investigates the death of a veteran of the Boer War. Set in 1923, this features a slightly different twist on the usual procedural of the period. Five dons routinely invite a hapless usually homeless person to their big gourmet meal and essentially verbally torture him. This time, though, the verbal victim is found dead and Inspector Redfyre is on the case. St Judes College is fictional but the details of how the Dons and others behave, well, those hopefully are not emblematic of the University. Redfyre is a good character- I missed the first book but I enjoyed getting to know him here. There are twists, some red herrings, and all in all, it's a well done novel. Thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC. The bonus for me was learning something about the Boer War, among other things. I'm curious where this series will go next.

[Susan Rowland · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a triumph of plotting to make a murder mystery of 1920s Cambridge also a mystery of the Boer war in South Africa. Hats off also to the author for making the African war comprehensible to an era that has forgotten it. Moreover, the recent conflict, known in the 1920s as The Great War (because surely there would never be another) also haunts the characters as the life and perspective of the soldier proves key to unravelling much of the darkness in these human hearts.

I liked this new sleuth a lot when he appeared in Book 1. Here, the well named Redfyre is in danger of being overshadowed by Dickie Dunne, variously sleuth, murderer, victim, hero, villain and tramp. Nevertheless, the novel is brilliantly written with an unforgettable and horrifying plausible tale of the aftermath of too many wars.

[Cindy Ladensack · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was a little uneven for me... I love Redfyre and the other main characters, and the witty dialogue and descriptions. The story, plot, and Cambridge setting were likewise clever and engaging. What really sunk it, though, was the confusing way in which the author unfolded it all. Switching from pre-murder to suspect interrogation to quarter century ago (long!) flashback to (finally) victim identification and suspect pursuit made the first part of the book just too confusing and disjointed. I’m glad I persevered because once I got everything straight, the second half was much more fluid. I think this would have been a five star book if the storytelling chronology had been less convoluted.

[Helen Riley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I chose this book as I have previously read some of the Joe Sandilands mysteries.

Having read some of the reviews here, I wondered how I would enjoy this one though, and whether I would manage to read to the end of the mystery.

It was a bit of a slog, but once the detective appeared, the story really got going.

I realised from the chapter headings that it was not a chronological story, but then I had to keep going back to the start of each reasonably long chapter to remember exactly where in time the story was taking place.

It was a good overall - I enjoyed the details of the Boer War - and I'm glad that I kept going to page 353, but I don't think this series is for me.

[Libby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inspector John Redfyre is back for his second investigation in Cambridge, England in the 1920s. The mysterious death of a tramp appears to connect with a university dinner club, as well as having links back to an incident during the Boer war. Cleverly's Inspector Redfyre books don't appeal to me as much as her Joe Sandilands' series did, but she does bring in intriguing historical details. This one was difficult to follow at times, jumping between various timeframes and settings. Still worthwhile for a vacation read. Review based on an ARC through NetGalley.

[Helenk · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a tale written in an interesting manner. It ranges from the Boer War through the 1920s. The reader has to pay close attention because the chapters are not always written in chronological order. Always note the chapter headings. I also recommend making notes about the characters, particularly the soldiers that were a part of the Boer War. Obviously this is history not well known here in the United States and the American audience. I like the main characters with the descriptions of society, life at Cambridge and the rise of feminism.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whew. The first 7 chapters (SEVEN. CHAPTERS.) are all set-up for the mystery, and it is a slog through 100+ pages of "A non-tiddlywinker making free with the club tie! Gor blimey!" The plot is centered around the Second Boer war, about which I know next to nothing, but about which this book seemed to assume I knew a great deal. I hoped it would be more comprehensible once the mystery began and we no longer had to spend so much time trying to follow the reminiscences and verbal repartees of Cambridge windbags, but alas, that was not the case. DNF.

[Jessica Spring · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though the main mystery that needed to be solved kept me reading through just to figure out what happened, I found the story to be half and half. Half slow and including dialogue that didn’t seem necessary and half fast paced an fun to read. There was a lot of diplomacy involved as well that I could never fully understand and therefore in my confusion would lose sight of where I was within the story and what was happening.

This may not be true for other readers but it personally was not my cup of tea.

[Leslie Conner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Barbara Cleverly creates well developed characters, includes intriguing complex mysteries and has expanded my knowledge of social culture in the early 1900’s. This 2nd story in the detective John Redfyre series was written with deep detail that explores many characters past experiences, motivations and skills. The social issues that the British population experienced and people increasingly noticing class, opportunity, and role problems are shifting towards change in 1924. These struggles pepper the story.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second in a series by the creator of the Joe Sandiland mysteries, which I like very much. I happened upon it on the shelf of my local library and grabbed it up, not knowing somehow about this new series. The series character is another WWI vet who becomes a policeman, this time in Cambridge. His personality could have been better developed, but likable enough. The college milieu in the early 20s was nicely done.

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite a rather extensive and somewhat graphic description of an incident during the 2nd Boer War (I'm not a fan of war stories), I really enjoyed this book. In this 2nd installment in the series, we get to know Redfyre and his fellow members of the Cambridge police even better, and they do a great job of detecting. More importantly, the many colorful characters involved in the mystery add a lot to the very involved and intriguing plot.

And I learned a lot about the Boer War.

[Vintagebooklvr · Rating 3 out of 5]

An intelligent mystery that does not move as fast as light, breezy cozies. I enjoyed the setting and the characters. The mystery has plenty of twists. I didn't feel that this was as pretentious as the first book; there were not a lot of literary quotes. The reader does need to pay attention to the chapter headings which have dates that skip around. I didn't understand the continuity for a while because I was not paying attention.

[Rosemary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspector John Refyre returns in this second of a new series by Ms. Cleverly. Set in 1924, it contains just the right bits of murders to solve, young women to yearn for, and a long story from the Boer War. The author is tone is one that makes reading this novel a delight. The mysteries are complex and the language is sophisticated with a subtle tongue in cheek that made me smile in appreciation.

[Kathy Moberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Portions of this mystery were excellent. I especialy enjoyed most of the scenes with Redfyre. However, other chapters slogged along or didn't hole my interest and the final wrap-up was unsatisfying, somehow. The organization of the storylines was largly responsible for my low rating. There is too much backstory and not enough Redfyre & his cohorts. I hope there is a 3rd book coming in the series, tho!