5 Mar 2010

THE HERRING SELLER'S APPRENTICE.


THE HERRING SELLER'S APPRENTICE by L.C. TYLER.

Ethelred Tressider is a crime writer with problems.

His latest novel is going nowhere, midlife crisis is looming and he's burdened by the literary agent he probably deserves: Elsie Thirkettle, who claims to enjoy neither the company of writers nor literature of any sort. But however bad things look they can always get worse.

When Ethelred's ex-wife vanishes close to his Sussex home, the indefatigable Elsie bullies him into embarking upon his own investigation. And, as their enquiries proceed, she begins to suspect that her client's own alibi is not as solid as he claims ........

........... From the outer, back cover.

FIRST SENTENCE (from the postscript): You'll have found the same thing yourself, of course.

MEMORABLE MOMENT: "You went off with the only woman I ever loved, if you don't count my primary school teacher," I said. "She may possibly be the only woman who ever loved me. Apart from my mother, I suppose, though she was sometimes rather vague on that score."

I was instantly intrigued by this novel with it's quirky, jolly looking cover - even if I was almost finished reading it before I realised it was a red herring on the gravestone and not a goldfish. The red herring being the 'trademark' of Peter Fielding which is one of the three 'pen names' of our rather unlikely detective Ethlered.

Enthralling and extremely witty with just the right amount of twists and turns , I really enjoyed The Herring Seller's Apprentice.

The characters were well thought out and very believable whilst at the same time being quite eccentric. I especially loved Elsie (the 'apprentice' of the title) who was very resourceful and more than capable AND a total chocoholic.

Written in several different styles, the story was told from the point of view of both Ethelred and Elsie as well as having snippets from the not-quite-written book of the afore mentioned Peter Fielding, which could have made for complicated reading - something the author managers to avoid - making this a very readable, if somewhat different, crime novel that had me guessing until the very end.







The Herring Seller's Apprentice was a competition win. Thank you DORTE.

15 comments:

Kissed by an Angel said...

Sounds really enjoyable!! I'll go and check it out!! Thank you!! How are you feeling now??
xxxx

Nina said...

That memorable moment is fun! I like that! :)

Hope you are feeling well!

serendipity_viv said...

Does sound good and set in my neck of the woods too. I love to read about books based where I live.

Unknown said...

This sounds like quite a lot of fun! And I'd never heard of it. Will keep an eye out.

Dorte H said...

I am glad you enjoyed your prize! It is always funnier when books end up in the right hands :D

Martha@A Sense of Humor is Essential said...

Excellent review, I am putting it on my reading list.
Thank you, Petty Wit, I've missed you and I hope you are feeling better.

RennyBA's Terella said...

Like always; You're reviews tempts me to give it a try :-)

Happy Weekend!

Kelly said...

I had to smile at your comment about not realizing until almost the end that it was a herring and not a goldfish on the cover.

Which, btw, IS a fun-looking cover. Glad you enjoyed your prize.

Oddyoddyo13 said...

I love eccentric books! Or people, I'm not picky which. Sounds like this one's a winner.

(Elsie, the chocoholic. Gotta love em.)

chitra said...

PW
Nice to see you have started reading and giving reviews. Enjoyed reading your post.

UberGrumpy said...

Sounds lime my cup of tea! Amazon here I come

Middle Ditch said...

Good review! Very tempted to read it. Love crime novels and if this kept you guessing until the end, it must be worth it.

TirzahLaughs said...

The book looks interesting. I'll try to pick it up.

You made me very interested in it.

Tirz

Jenners said...

I like the quotes you shared ... it sounds fun and offbeat .. and Lord knows I can relate to chocoholism!

Betty Manousos said...

That sounds really good.
Very tempted to read it.
Betty xx