Say It with Poison

by Ann Granger

Paperback, 1991

Status

Available

Call number

823.914

Publication

New York: Avon, 1993

Description

"When Meredith Mitchell agreed to stay with her actress cousin Eve in the run-up to Eve's daughter's wedding she anticipated a degree of drama. But she hardly expected it to include murder, blackmail and unrequited love. Or to involve a certain Chief Inspector Markby, a middle-aged divorcee with an emotional history as unfortunate as her own. A material witness to the only case of murder the Cotswold village of Westerfield has ever seen, Meredith also finds herself acting as mother-confessor to the bride-to-be, who is clearly not telling the whole truth about her involvement with the dead man. Steering a path between her duty to the police and loyalty to her cousin's family is not easy; even for someone with Meredith's considerable diplomatic skills. And especially as her personal enquiries into events in Westerfield start to disinter past affections Meredith would far rather leave buried - and to provoke new ones she's not at all sure she can cope with ..."--Provided by publisher.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member vanedow

It was just ok. The characters were a little plastic.

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LibraryThing member orange_suspense

Say it with Poison took me longer than expected for I had the constant feeling of not knowing wether I liked the book and all the love story elements in it or not. In the end I’m not satisfied or disappointed. Markby was rather faceless, Mitchell was drawn quiet well. None of the two created the

feeling of real sympathy within me and this is not really a good sign for Mitchell and Markby are the main protagonists of Ann Granger's series. It seemed that Granger wasn’t sure if she would continue it and therefore the whole story feels a bit like a stand alone novel to me (with a strange lifeless end).

Be it as it may, I can’t say the book was bad (besides: Hercule Poirots name was mentioned once and it made me smile a little). The problem of the plot clearly is the lack of relevance for the investigations of Mitchell. Everything would have turned out the same in my oppinion for I think Sara would have confessed to Markby at some point. I know, pure speculation…I will read the second book of the adventures of Mitchell and Markby and will make my final decision then if this series is something I like.

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LibraryThing member JoAnnSmithAinsworth

Well written. Twist at the end, but more morbid conclusion than her other book I read.

LibraryThing member janglen

This is a stock standard detective in the Agatha Christie/Ngaio Marsh style. Unmemorable but fine if you are in the mood for a totally undemanding read.

LibraryThing member Sarah_King

Having grown up in the UK on a diet of Miss Marple and other whodunnits, I enjoyed this book. It's got everything you need to create a good crime - original characters, gory deaths and plenty of feisty discussions between the protagonist Mitchell and her counterpart Markby. I particularly enjoyed

the social context she put village life into. A colourful read.

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LibraryThing member Icewineanne

Because of the number of books that Ann Granger has written, I assumed that I would really enjoy her mysteries. I expected to read an enjoyable puzzler, instead I found this book very dated, with poorly written dialogue. It was a struggle to finish it. I'm surprised that her publisher continued

with this series. This book is the first of the Mitchell & Markby mystery series, she works for the UK Consulate and he's a police detective. When they meet, they butt heads but he's interested in her and tries to get to know her better, but she's too annoyed and irritated by him to notice, she still hasn't gotten over her first great love who died tragically. Doesn't this sound more like a Harlequin romance than a mystery??!!This scenario annoyingly continues on until the last page of the book when there is a hint that the two will connect again in the next Mitchell & Markby mystery.
Very disappointing. Don't waste your time.

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LibraryThing member ashleytylerjohn

A perfectly pleasant, perfectly competent book that failed to excite. There were no goosebumps, no thrilling moment of frisson when I realised "No!" or alternatively "Yes!" ... the characters seemed real enough but were not particularly interesting (especially the supposed leads, Mitchell &

Markby), and so while I won't necessarily eschew her further works, I'm not racing down to the store to buy the next one.

I was pleased that it wasn't particularly blood-thirsty (I picked up a Women's Murder Club book once because that sounded like fun, and in the opening pages he shot a baby, so that was the end of that), so I suppose it's a "cosy" and it never devolves into "twee"--so points for that. (I like books where the vicar comes to tea and discusses the case, but I hate books where the pet cat narrates how the vicar has come to tea to discuss the case).

Basically fine, but nothing special.

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