"The Case of the Hidden Flame" by Alison Golden

Detective Inspector David Graham has just arrived on Jersey in the English Channel, where he’s been appointed to lead the police force. He’s barely put his luggage down in his hotel room when a murder is reported. The body of a  retired oncologist who’s been living at the hotel has been buried on the beach, found by the man who was getting ready to propose to her.  

The medical examiner suspects murder, although the body bear so no signs of violence. He determines that the cause of death was asphyxiation, brought on by a heart arrythmia. But she’d been perfectly healthy, and so he suspects poison.

 

That’s not the only mystery; the time of death is uncertain. It’s likely that she was poisoned with a glass of wine brought with her lunch and left outside her door, except the glass is missing. Graham and his team have their work cut out for them.

 

Suspects abound, too, including the almost fiancée, a wife who suspects her husband has been having affair with the retired doctor, a man whose son died from cancer while under the doctor’s care, and more.

 

Alison Golden

The Case of the Hidden Flame is the second in the DI David Graham series by Alison Golden, and it’s a charming (and relatively short) mystery lacking any gory detail (“ a little foam around the mouth” is as gory as it gets).

 

Golden has three mystery and suspense series involving signature detectives. The Diana Hunter series is set in Vancouver; the series includes Hunted, Snatched, Stolen, Chopped, and Exposed. The Rev. Annabelle Dixon series is set in Cornwall. And the Inspector David Graham series is set on Jersey, one of the Channel Islands. The last two are officially “cozy mysteries,” which translates as minimal violence and any romantic interest will not involve graphic sex. Golden also includes recipes mentioned in the books at the end of the Anabelle Dixon stories. Raised in Bedfordshire, England, Golden now lives in the San Francisco area. 

 

The Case of the Hidden Flame is an easy-reading story perfect for vacations. If I lived near a beach, I would have read it while sitting in my beach chair under a large umbrella, while keeping an eye out for anyone who might want to slip something in my drink.

 

Related:

 

Hunted and Chopped by Alison Golden.

 

Three Cozy Mysteries by Alison Golden.

 

Grave in the Garage by Alison Golden.

 

Two Annabelle Dixon Mysteries by Alison Golden.

 

Killer at the Cult by Alison Golden.

 

The Case of the Missing Letter by Alison Golden.

"The Case of the Missing Letter" by Alison Golden

Detective Inspector David Graham has much to be proud of with his team. As the story in the newspaper reports, since his arrival on the island of Jersey, crime has dropped 16 percent and solved cases now constitute half of the statistics. And when a policeman is feeling proud of his and his team’s accomplishments, the reader knows trouble lies ahead.

A lot of trouble.

First, Graham is called to the island’s cultural museum. It appears that a burglary went very, very wrong. The night guard is found dead next to the museum’s prize possession, an 18^th century desk made by a master carpenter, one of only three in the world. It appears that the guard interrupted a burglar, but the man had a heart condition and actually died of a heart attack.

The desk was damaged when the guard fell, and a local furniture maker and repairman is capably restoring it. Then he’s found with his head bashed in. It’s that desk again. And if a burglary-gone-wrong and a murder weren’t enough, someone is out to kill the new librarian in town.

Alison Golden

In The Case of the Missing Letter by Alison Golden, DI Graham and his team suddenly have their hands full. What the reader knows, if the police team doesn’t, is that two people are after a letter believed hidden in the desk, one that could smear a well-known family and upend a parliamentary election race. 

Golden has three mystery and suspense series involving signature detectives. The Diana Hunter series is set in Vancouver; the series includes Hunted, Snatched, Stolen, Chopped, and Exposed. The Rev. Annabelle Dixon series is set in Cornwall. And the Inspector David Graham series is set on Jersey, one of the Channel Islands. The last two are officially “cozy mysteries,” which translates as minimal violence and any romantic interest will not involve graphic sex. Golden also includes recipes mentioned in the books at the end of the Anabelle Dixon stories. Raised in Bedfordshire, England, Golden now lives in the San Francisco area. 

The Case of the Missing Letter is fast-moving, with an intriguing plot and more villains running around than you can shake a fist at. But Graham and his team will persist, and they will catch more than one guilty party. 

Related:

Hunted and Chopped by Alison Golden.

Three Cozy Mysteries by Alison Golden.

Grave in the Garage by Alison Golden.

Two Annabelle Dixon Mysteries by Alison Golden.

Three Cozy Mysteries by Alison Golden

Alison Golden is one prolific mystery writer, with three series involving signature detectives. The Diana Hunter series is set in Vancouver. The Rev. Annabelle Dixon series is set in Cornwall. And the Inspector David Graham series is set on Jersey, one of the Channel Islands. The last two are officially “cozy mysteries,” which translates as there may be a murder or two, but the violence is minimal and whatever romantic interest there is will not involve graphic sex.

In the case of Golden’s two cozy detectives, there is also a strong undercurrent of humor.

Death at the Café is a kind of prequel to the Rev. Annabelle series. It’s set in London; the recently ordained Annabelle is working at a church in the East End. While she’s enjoying it and seeing good things happen, her vicar’s soul yearns for the country village life. She also likes cake, of any type or variety.

She goes to meet an old childhood friend, Sister Mary, a nun now serving in Africa who’s in London to help raise money for her mission. As it turns out, the sister has an appointment to meet with the niece of a potential benefactor the hour before she meets Annabelle. As the niece approaches the nun’s table, she collapses. She’s dead, and it isn’t by natural causes. Annabelle will work overtime to help her friend, and they encounter another murder, stolen jewels, and good old-fashioned greed. 

In Murder at the Mansion, the Rev. Annabelle is now the vicar in the Cornwall village of Upton St. Mary, driving her blue Mini Cooper around the countryside. She has a housekeeper, Philippa, who knows the new vicar likes a good cake or two but suspects she’s quietly stealing Philippa’s culinary delights. Annabelle hears rumors that a new resident from London, who’s bought the big mansion near town, is secretly scheming to open a brothel. She decides to check for herself, and while she waits for him to finish his yoga meditation, the man is killed by a crossbow.

The case is investigated by Inspector Mike Nicholls, who, in what is made clear from the outset, is a potential love interest for Annabelle, even if he doesn’t know it yet. She knows it, however. And she’s drawn into the case not solely for the purpose of finding the killer.

Both Annabelle Dixon mysteries include recipes for all the cakes and desserts featured in the stories.

A different detective, Inspector David Graham, is the main character in The Case of the Screaming Beauty. Amelia and Cliff Swansbourne operate The Lavender, a beautiful, old, and well-maintained hotel, written up in all the right travel magazines. A guest, a young and rather beautiful woman from London, is found murdered in her room, and potential suspects abound.

As Inspector Graham pursues the case, it becomes anything but straightforward. And the key to finding the murdered is wrapped into why the dead woman screamed the night before, long before she was murdered.

Each of the three mysteries is fast-paced, with clues left for the reader to consider. They are exactly what they’re written to be – fun and clean entertainment.

Golden was born and raised in Bedfordshire, England, and is now based in the San Francisco Bay area. 

Top illustration: Boscastle Village in Cornwall, watercolor by Dawn Hudson via Public Domain Pictures.