Death And Miss Dane

by Elizabeth Cadell

There was snow in Devonshire at the end of May, and floods on the first day of June—signs that would have sent an ancient Greek hurrying to propitiate the gods. But Paul Saracen merely cursed the climate and went about his business and remained oblivious to the fact that the floodwater, draining out of Fern Valley, was taking with it his established way of life. It was not only the climate that affected the pleasant village of Fern Valley: it was a brutal murder which, coinciding with a number of unexpected arrivals in the neighborhood, made Paul question his conviction that the lovely Miss Dane could have had no connection with the shocking event.

Genres: Mystery, Romance, Fiction

180 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1959

About the author

Violet Elizabeth Vandyke was born on 10 November 1903 in Calcutta, British Raj, daughter of British parents, Elizabeth Lynch and Frederick Reginald Vandyke, a colonial officer. During the Great War she studied music in London, but refused a musical career and returned to India where she married in 1928 Henry Dunlop Raymond Mallock Cadell, and they had a son and daughter. After she was widowed ten years later, she returned to England.

Elizabeth wrote her first book 'My Dear Aunt Flora' during the Second World War in 1946, there after producing another 51 light-hearted, humourous and romantic books which won her a faithful readership in England and America. In addition to England and India, many of her books are set in Spain, France, and Portugal. She finally settled in Portugal, where her married daughter still lived.

She died on 9 October 1989, aged eighty-five.

Reviews

[Marylou]

Good but

I liked this book but it wasn't as good as other books by Elizabeth Cadell. Perhaps it is because it is a sort of murder mystery and therefore out of her normal genre. Definitely worth reading though.

[Jannah]

A bit different from her usual with the man being the one who had a not so great fiance
But damn the random whodunnit was quite confusing

[Kate]

not quite a novel.

Apparently written ( or adapted from a longer manuscript) for a Canadian magazine which put out special issues which had a longer story. The original, longer manuscript has been lost, but here is the magazine novella. And a delight story it is. Yes, we miss a lot of careful tangling, the untangling comes quickly, but is perfectly satisfactory.

[Sep]

Paul Saracen is the typical Cadell hero, engaged to the wrong woman, gradually being maneuvered into bad behavior and basically a nice guy. Then, unlike most Cadells, someone is murdered just after Miss Dane, a lovely young woman, catches Paul's eye.

[Terri]

As explained in the Foreword, this book is not in the original form. That has been lost, and what has now been published is still and Elizabeth Cadell book, with just some of the extra added language and situations we've come to love. Still worth a read, I'd sure have liked to read the original.

[Miriam]

This is one of Cadell's books with more mystery and less humor. It was interesting, and a little sad.

[Valerie]

Everyone is involved; even Miss Dane! Don't count her out, as you attempt to solve the murder of the reclusive owner of Paul Saracen's former home. Paul does so and it complicates the discovery of the murderer.