Review: ‘The Riveira Express’, by TP Fielden

Published By: HQ

Publication Date: 29th June 2017

I.S.B.N.: 9780008193706

Format: Paperback

Price: £7.99

Blurb

Gerald Hennessey silver screen star and much-loved heart-throb never quite makes it to Temple Regis, the quaint Devonshire seaside town on the English Riviera. Murdered on the 4.30 from Paddington, the loss of this great man throws Temple Regis’ community into disarray.

Not least Miss Judy Dimont corkscrew-haired reporter for the local rag, The Riviera Express. Investigating Gerald’s death, she’s soon called to the scene of a second murder, and, setting off on her trusty moped, Herbert, finds Arthur Shrimsley in an apparent suicide on the clifftops above the town beach.

Miss Dimont must prevail for why was a man like Gerald coming to Temple Regis anyway? What is the connection between him and Arthur? And just how will she get any answers whilst under the watchful and mocking eyes of her infamously cantankerous Editor, Rudyard Rhys?

My Review

Temple Regis, on the south Devon English Riviera coast, at the end of the 1958 summer season is full of interest – the Coronation Ball, the births, marriages and deaths. the local horticultural society’s flower shows, Teddy Boys fighting with bikers, the ladies of the the bowling club walking out over the use of the clubhouse, and two dead bodies.

The dead bodies are those of a famous actor, George Hennessy, and the washed-up newspaper man Arthur Shrimsley.

Judy Dimont is the senior reporter at Temple Regis’ weekly newspaper, Riviera Express. She smells a story, and murder, despite the coroner and police assuming one is an accident and the other natural causes.

I enjoyed this novel; it’s a cosy murder mystery, in the traditional ‘Golden Age’ mode. The investigator is not a professional, the police are borderline incompetent, and the community is slightly snobbish and enclosed. There’s an acerbic wit to the novel, and the characters are well-rounded and fully developed. The plot is engaging and the solution quite unexpected, although the clues are there if you notice them.

Definitely one for the Agatha Christie fans.

4/5