Review: THE VICTIM IN VICTORIA STATION, Jeanne M. Dams

• 
  this edition from Amazon on Kindle
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08N5D4G7Q
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Joffe Books crime thriller and mystery (November 9, 2020)
• Originally published 1999
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 178 pages
• Dorothy Martin Mysteries, No. 5

Synopsis (Amazon)

Dorothy Martin's wedded bliss could only be improved if her husband didn't have to go gallivanting all over the world, advising local police on new procedure. Dorothy's life could only be improved if she didn't keep stumbling across the recently-and criminally-deceased.

Dorothy Martin of eccentric hat fame finds another dead body in this fifth installment in Dams's successful series (Death in Lacquer Red, etc.). Sixty-something Dorothy, an American who recently married British police officer Alan Nesbitt, resides in the cathedral town of Sherebury. With Alan on business in Africa, Dorothy travels to London only to find that the young American businessman with whom she had chatted earlier has died somewhere along the trip to Victoria Station. When the death is not reported in the papers, Dorothy becomes suspicious, and with the help of Sherebury's resident computer whiz Nigel Evans, she discovers that the young man was the CEO of a rising software company. Dorothy infiltrates the company's London office as a temporary secretary and begins hunting about for the truth. Her tenure in the corporate office flushes out several suspects and coincides with another murder. Dams has always provided clever tales, and Dorothy is quickly becoming popular among mystery fans. Once again, however, there are a few blemishes in an otherwise amiable story. Dorothy's London friends, Americans Tom and Lynn Anderson, are a little too understanding; and Dorothy is yet another cloyingly spry senior citizen. Although the finale is not especially surprising, it is gratifying. (Sept.) FYI: Dams received the Agatha Award for her first Dorothy Martin mystery, The Body in the Transept. 

My Take

This novel is set about 4 months or so after the last MALICE IN MINIATURE. At the end of that novel Dorothy broke her leg and this novel begins with her travelling to London on the train for her last appointment with her Harley St. specialist.

On this journey she chats to a young American business man. As she is about to get off the train at Victoria Station she discovers that the young man has died after drinking a cup of train coffee. Dorothy is anxious to get to her appointment in Harley Street, and a doctor who comes along assures her the man is dead, that he will take care of getting the police, and that she should go. Dorothy is puzzled by the fact that there is no report of the death in the papers, and is assured by the police that no-one has died on the train. Dorothy is convinced that a young man had died, and eventually finds out who he was.

This leads to a most fanciful scenario where Dorothy gets herself a job in the office the young man had been heading to. She gets a computer expert and her London friends to help her in identifying the murderer, searching the offices etc, and eventually sewing the case up.

A really unlikely story with some parts that keep you reading just to find out how everything hangs together. First written in 1999, I thought Dams spent far too much of the book showing us how much she knew about computers and their software. In addition, Dorothy's new husband Alan was again conveniently away. Had he been at home, this investigation would never have got off the ground.

I might not be reading another in this series for a while.

My rating: 4.0

I've also read

• 4.3, THE BODY IN THE TRANSEPT - #1
• 4.4, TROUBLE IN THE TOWN HALL - #2 
• 4.2, HOLY TERROR IN THE HEBRIDES - #3 
• 4.4, MALICE IN MINIATURE  - #4
  

Review: MALICE IN MINIATURE, Jeanne M. Dams

• 
   this edition an e-book on Kindle (Amazon)
  
• Dorothy Martin Mystery Book 4
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08M6FKTTP
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Joffe Books crime, thriller and cozy mystery (28 October 2020)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 276 pages 

Synopsis  (Amazon)

IN THE WORLD OF MINIATURES, SOMETIMES THE CRIMES ARE MAJOR

Dorothy and her new husband are interrupted one cold November afternoon by Ada Finch. Ada’s son Bob is Dorothy’s gardener.

Bob has been arrested for stealing a seventeenth-century tea set created for a doll's house at grand English country house, Brockelsby Hall. The Hall is the home of the Museum of Miniatures, a spectacular collection of doll’s houses assembled by eccentric aristocrat Sir Mordred Brocklesby.

DARK DOINGS IN A GOTHIC ENGLISH COUNTRY HOUSE

Then the old housekeeper is found poisoned. Can Dorothy unmask a murderer without putting herself in mortal danger?

DOROTHY’S NEWLY MARRIED BUT THAT WON’T STOP HER SOLVING CRIMES!

My Take

So here I am at #4 in Dorothy Martin's adventures in amateur sleuthing. Dorothy and Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt are recently married and Alan, apparently on the verge of retirement, is away exploring what may well be his final administrative job. Dorothy is not sure how he feels about her continuing her sleuthing activities but that doesn't stop her from going to the aid of Ada Finch when her son Bob is arrested for theft. 

As readers we are now well familiar with the main characters of the story: Dorothy and Alan, Dorothy's London friends, her neighbour Jane, and Ada and Bob Finch. Bob has been accused of stealing a valuable item from the nearby Museum of Miniatures, Brockelsby Hall, where he has a part time job as a gardener. Theft is so out of character for Bob that Dorothy takes no persuading to come to his defence.

Dorothy makes new friends at the Museum and then a very nasty and dangerous enemey indeed.

I am enjoying the series and have one book to go in the ones that I have purchased. After that I will probably consign them to "occasional read" when I am looking for something to read on my Kindle.

My rating: 4.4

I've already read 

• 4.3, THE BODY IN THE TRANSEPT - #1
• 4.4, TROUBLE IN THE TOWN HALL - #2 
• 4.2, HOLY TERROR IN THE HEBRIDES - #3
  

Review: HOLY TERROR IN THE HEBRIDES, Jeanne M. Dams

• 
  this edition an e-book on Kindle (Amazon) 
  
• Dorothy Martin Mystery Book 3
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08LHDXC9Y
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Joffe Books crime, thriller and cozy mystery (19 October 2020)
• Originally published 1997
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 276 pages

Synopsis (Amazon) 

ALONE ON A REMOTE SCOTTISH ISLAND WITH A MURDERER ON THE LOOSE

A peaceful stay on the charming Scottish island of Iona sounds perfect to sometime sleuth Dorothy Martin.

But trouble always follows Dorothy. Thrown in with a bickering American church tour, she tries to keep her distance.

Then one of the group, a man everyone disliked, falls to his death from a cliff at the legendary Fingal’s Cave.

Dorothy is the only witness. She notices a small clue that the police dismiss, one that makes her believe the death was murder. 

My Take

Dorothy is offered the opportunity to holiday in a cottage on Iona with friends from London, but at the last minute they are unable to join her and she goes alone. She meets up with a most unusual group of Americans who end up staying at the same hotel as her (after she has discovered that she has left the key to the holiday cottage at home). And then she witnesses the most unpopular of them falling to his death at Fingal's Cave.

And then Iona is hit with a monster storm and they are all stranded.

Dorothy becomes convinced that somehow the death that she witnessed was a murder, and that all the factors point to a Jewish Rabbi as the perpetrator. The problem is that she has become very friendly with him and cannot believe that her judgement can be so wrong. 

This story is largely without the presence of Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt who has gone off to a police conference in Brussels. She is desperate to talk to him.

Unfortunately this plot feels a bit pedestrian. It is a bit of a travelogue. It also focuses on Dorothy's tendency to see murder everywhere.

My rating: 4.2

I've also read

• 4.3, THE BODY IN THE TRANSEPT - #1
• 4.4, TROUBLE IN THE TOWN HALL - #2
  

Review: TROUBLE IN THE TOWN HALL, Jeanne M. Dams

• 
  this edition an e-book on Kindle (Amazon) 
  
• Dorothy Martin Mystery Book 2
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08KSCY1P5
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Joffe Books cozy mysteries (5 October 2020)
• originally published: HarperPaperbacks (7 January 1998) 
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 260 pages

Synopsis (Amazon)

A DEAD BODY IN THE CLOSET AND A LEAKING ROOF KEEP DOROTHY BUSY.

Dorothy Martin is still learning her way around the charming English cathedral town which she moved to a year ago from America.

But she recognizes a dead body when she sees one. The historic town hall is closed with its future hanging in the balance. Dorothy is visiting when the cleaner finds the dead body of a young man in a closet.

Her passion for mysteries is as hot as ever, of course. Despite warnings from her dear friend Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt not to get in the way of the official investigation, Dorothy simply can't resist taking a look around.

There are plenty more skeletons in local closets, enough to keep an amateur sleuth on her toes — unless the hands of a murderer reach her first. And not to mention her lovely house has water coming in through the roof!

Can she find a murderer and a decent builder?

My take

Over 6 months has passed since the events in #1 in this series, THE BODY IN THE TRANSEPT. 

Dorothy is thrust into world of building by the state of the roof of her cottage, and also by the local controversy over what will be happening to the town hall now that the Town Council has moved to new premises on the outskirts of the town. 

Since the last book Dorothy has acquired another cat and has been developing her friendship with the Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt. Despite Alan's warnings to take things carefully and circumspectly, Dorothy attends a town meeting when discussion about turning the old Town Hall into a shopping mall becomes very heated. 

Dorothy discovers the body of a young man in a cupboard in the Town Hall, and then becomes curious about why a work colleague becomes faint every time the incident is mentioned.

Eventually Dorothy predictably outs herself in danger yet again, and another work colleague is murdered.

If you enjoy cozies you will probably enjoy this series, but make sure you read them from the beginning.

My rating: 4.4

I've already read  THE BODY IN THE TRANSEPT

Review: THE BODY IN THE TRANSEPT, Jeanne M. Dams

• 
  this edition an e-book on Kindle (Amazon) 
  
• Dorothy Martin Mystery Book 1
• Winner of the Agatha Award for Best First Novel.
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08JVKFM1W
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Joffe Books cozy crime and mystery (September 22, 2020) 
• Book originally published by Harper Torch in 1996
  
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 228 pages 

Synopsis (Amazon) 

It's Christmas Eve in the small town of Sherebury. Dorothy Martin, a recently widowed American, is having her first Christmas in England.

But as she leaves the cathedral's midnight mass, she literally stumbles over a dead body — and it’s one of the priests, Canon Billings.

He wasn’t very popular and the list of suspects includes most of the town. But Dorothy doesn’t give up easily when it comes to finding out the truth.

Of course, she does get to meet Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt, and a good mystery on a chilly English night does have some appeal.

THE DETECTIVE
Dorothy Martin, sixtyish widow from Indiana and retired schoolteacher, moves to England shortly after her husband dies. A move they had planned to make together. Like the author, she has a taste for fabulous hats. 

SETTING
The fictitious cathedral city of Sherebury, located somewhere in the southeast of England. A small and beautiful town, it is a mix of many real cities and towns in the England so loved by the author. She guarantees that no American fast-food chains will ever crop up on the High Street of Sherebury, where pubs, tea shops, and Indian restaurants thrive.

My Take 

I have bought a Kindle edition of Books 1-5 of this series and I see that there are are 17 books in the series. (see the list of titles below)

Dorothy Martin's sleuthing idols are Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. Once she has the scent of a mystery she can't let go. Leaving the cathedral near her home on Christmas Eve she comes across what she initially thinks is a heap of clothing, and then discovers it is a very unpopular canon. 

Despite the fact that there are finally 3 murders, this is a light cozy read, and I feel that I will probably enjoy reading further into the series. The characters in this title are interesting and there seems to be a good basis for further development. The structure of the plot is Christie like with various characters being held up for scrutiny as suspects and then discounted. The strands of the plot hang together reasonably well, but the whole thing is not too demanding. I suspect it is another series that you need to read in order.

DOROTHY MARTIN MYSTERY SERIES
Book 1: THE BODY IN THE TRANSEPT
Book 2: TROUBLE IN THE TOWN HALL
Book 3: HOLY TERROR IN THE HEBRIDES
Book 4: MALICE IN MINIATURE
Book 5: THE VICTIM IN VICTORIA STATION
Book 6: KILLING CASSIDY
Book 7: TO PERISH IN PENZANCE
Book 8: SINS OUT OF SCHOOL
Book 9: WINTER OF DISCONTENT
Book 10: A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT
Book 11: THE EVIL THAT MEN DO
Book 12: THE CORPSE OF ST JAMES’S
Book 13: MURDER AT THE CASTLE
Book 14: SHADOWS OF DEATH
Book 15: DAY OF VENGEANCE
Book 16: THE GENTLE ART OF MURDER
Book 17: BLOOD WILL TELL 

My rating: 4.3

About the author

Jeanne M. Dams has lived in South Bend, Indiana, all her life. Her love of England was born of almost obsessive reading of English mysteries from an early age, and was cemented by a brief visit to London after her graduation from Purdue University. Many years and many visits later, she continues to love the British Isles and especially their people. She is also interested in history, has written one historical series, and is beginning another.