From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

The Cornish Coast Murder

John Bude,

Martin Edwards (Introduction)

Start date: March 1, 2021

Finish date: March 31, 2021

Discussion: Group reads

Why we're reading this: Winner of the poll for our March group read.
[close] Winner of the poll for our March group read.

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 328 topics — 11,869 comments total

Group reads

* VOTE NOW for November 2025 group read!
By Judy · 19 posts · 22 views

last updated 6 hours, 3 min ago

* Sept 25: Lonesome Road (#3 Miss Silver Mysteries) by Patricia Wentworth
By Susan · 13 posts · 11 views

last updated Sep 03, 2025 12:03PM

showing 7 of 7 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Aug 12, 2018 SewingandCaring rated it did not like it

I’m a huge murder mystery fan, especially the golden age and this book is pure unadulterated horseshit. In this instance there is a reason it was out of print for so long. It’s dull.

It’s a 50 page short story dragged out to 286 pages, there is no subtlety of plot and no beauty in the language to redeem it. Miss Silver is “charming” this is as painful as that American show “seconds from disaster” where they assume their viewers are stupid and repeat everything that has come before after each adv ...more

11 likes · Like · see review

Jul 14, 2018 Tania rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

I really loved the opening of this story. A dark and stormy night, in a village on the Cornish coast, the Vicar and the Dr discuss Murder Mystery books (their shared guilty pleasure). The phone rings, and low and behold, their own murder mystery to solve.
Sadly the book doesn't quite live up to the opening, but it is entertaining. ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Dec 14, 2016 Jill rated it liked it · review of another edition

Although I quite liked this book , the description of the location of the crime did not fit in with the method that was used to murder the victim. From the point where an explanation was put forward all I could think was " that's impossible ".
I did think there was a lot of repetition along the way, which sort of niggled me, but I did warm to police and vicar . I do not think the crime of perjury should ever be acceptable though, and Ruth should really have been punished. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jan 23, 2016 Leslie rated it really liked it

Shelves: british, mysteries

Enjoyable Golden Age mystery (but not one that the reader can solve ahead of the detective)...

1 like · Like · see review

Nov 20, 2020 Andréa rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, mystery-thriller-crime, british-isles, digital, classics, netgalley-edelweiss

Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

1 like · Like · see review

Aug 24, 2016 Laura Hannaway rated it it was amazing

Shelves: british-library-crime-classics

I absolutely loved this!! I thought it was really well written, the mystery kept me guessing and the reveal at the end made perfect sense. A minor quibble would be that the protagonist knew more than was revealed to the reader so it wasn't really a level playing field, however Bude's writing style was so engaging that it didn't irritate or annoy me at all like it might have done with another author. I'll definitely be on the lookout for more of his republished novels and absolutely love the Brit ...more

Like · see review

Jun 13, 2017 Francine rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery

Very good !

Like · see review

Mar 02, 2021 Sandy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-classic, mystery-detective-grp, rread-2021

Excellent debut novel with a good plot and interesting characters. The vicar and the police work well together and I would have liked to see them in later books (though I like Bude's later series detective). ...more

Like · see review