“When you read a book….”

When you read a book, leave a review somewhere. Wouldn’t you like the same? —C. Hope Clark 

The sentiment above struck home for me because as a reader I do want to share the joy I find in reading with others. And while I talk to my friends and we share recommendations, it seldom goes any farther.

So today, gentle readers, meet Caroline Graham–a nice English lady a few years my senior. She is author of the DCI Barnaby series which just recently began airing on OPB Friday nights as “Midsomer Murders”.

Graham began writing mysteries at age 40, and wrote seven Barnaby books in all. I completed “The Ghost in the Machine” a couple nights ago and it has stayed with me. It takes Graham nearly 150 pages to finally get someone murdered, but the leadup is so completely entertaining it matters not.

Life in the English villages of fictional Midsomer County, as seen through Graham’s eyes, is anything but dull–rife with petty jealousies, sarcastic asides, sexual depravities, and most important, secrets. Lots and lots of secrets. By the time Barnaby arrives on the scene with his sidekick Sgt. Troy, he has considerable sorting out to do.

For the mystery reader, Graham is not to be missed. Her attention to detail, sense of place, character development, convoluted plot and subplots, and wicked sense of humor put her right up there with P.D. James and Elizabeth George.

Over the past couple years I’ve watched “Midsomer Murders”. The television series spans several seasons and is available on DVD through Netflix and Multnomah County Library. Quality varies depending upon the screenwriter, but the setting, characters, and tone–even when the stories aren’t Graham’s–are spot on.

Hope Clark, by the way, just released her first mystery, “Lowcountry Bribe” published by BellBridge Books. She writes the weekly e-newsletter “Funds for Writers”.

“When you read a book, leave a review somewhere. Wouldn’t you like the same?” Of course we would. If only.