September 15, 2014
In Helton’s suspenseful, well-plotted sixth Chris Honeysett mystery (after 2013’s Worthless Remains), the painter and PI reluctantly agrees to take on a temporary job as tutor at the Bath Art Academy after the school’s head, John Birtwhistle, dies of a heart attack at the wheel of his car. Between mentoring students, contacting previous instructors, and arranging an exhibition of works by the school’s past faculty and present students, Honeysett hardly has time to track down the culprit who has vandalized one exhibitor’s studio and sabotaged Birtwhistle’s memorial service with a giant mechanical spider. When another exhibitor is murdered, the police view Honeysett as the leading suspect. Despite a couple of twisty subplots, the pace never falters, and Honeysett’s good-humored, unpretentious narration takes the edge off the violence. The “collection of nutters” associated with the art school come across as credible individuals. Those interested in the contemporary English art scene will have a lot of fun.
November 5, 2012
British author Helton's amusing fourth Chris Honeysett mystery (after 2008's Rainstone Fall) takes the bumbling PI and artist from cold, wet Bath to sunny Corfu, at the behest of a supermarket mogul worried about a valued employee, Kyla Biggs, who disappeared there while on holiday. Afraid to fly, Honeysett sets out in a dilapidated motor home with a stowaway cat, a postcard sent by Kyla from Corfu's Niko's Taverna, and Greek language tapes. Once on the island, Honeysett manages to locate fellow artist and friend Morva Lennox, who's living in a remote, abandoned village. Honeysett's aimless search for Kyla nets him a tail from someone in a blue Toyota, warnings from numerous sources, and increasingly weird and dangerous "accidents" at Morva's place. When lover Annis Jordan arrives and Honeysett finds Niko's Taverna, things heat up and the puzzling pieces fall into place in a dizzy, ditsy fashion that matches Honeysett's investigative techniques.
January 1, 2013
Artist and PI Chris Honeysett welcomes the chance to work in Corfu but finds the idyllic setting isn't quite paradise. This is the fourth case (after Rainstone Fall) for the idiosyncratic sleuth.
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