{"id":6240,"date":"2025-03-10T06:59:01","date_gmt":"2025-03-10T13:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=6240"},"modified":"2025-03-10T06:59:01","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T13:59:01","slug":"ann-cleeves-a-lesson-in-dying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/ann-cleeves-a-lesson-in-dying\/","title":{"rendered":"Ann Cleeves: A Lesson in Dying"},"content":{"rendered":"

Inspector Ramsay #1<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This welcome re-release of the first book in Ann Cleeves\u2019 Inspector Ramsay series, originally published in 1990, is a pure delight.\u00a0 Our bookstore (open 1992-2018) was lucky enough to have many of these\u00a0 now collectible volumes on our shelves.\u00a0 Before breaking out with her Vera books in 1999, the hardworking writer produced two now completed series, one centering on birdwatching, and this debut in the Ramsay series, a real, golden age gem.<\/p>\n

Of course, the golden age of mystery ended many decades before this series began, but Cleeves follows many of the plotting and set up tropes familiar to any fan of the classics.\u00a0 Set in a small village, the book begins when the much hated school headmaster of the insular community\u00a0 is done away with at a combination Halloween\/Guy Fawkes party for the school kids.\u00a0 To the natives, all of whom are more than familiar with each other, Inspector Ramsey seems like\u00a0 a exotic creature who appears from above to swoop in to solve the crime.<\/p>\n

There are children underfoot, of course, but they don\u2019t really figure into the story, which takes a deep dive into the inner lives of the school\u2019s teachers and parents.\u00a0 The dead man\u2019s wife is speedily arrested, but Jack Robson, the school custodian and local councilor who has carried a torch for the accused woman since high school, is convinced she\u2019s not guilty.\u00a0 He teams up with his friendly and somewhat directionless daughter Patty, to investigate, finding much needed purpose and closeness along the way.<\/p>\n

Inspector Ramsay lurks at the edges of the story, as they keep him updated on their discoveries.\u00a0 Patty lurches like a friendly puppy from one home to another, offering comfort where she can, while her father\u2019s wheels turn a bit more efficiently, allowing him to be the one who actually cracks the case.<\/p>\n

Cleeves\u2019 genius is already apparent here.\u00a0 If it\u2019s slightly more traditional and less amped up than some of her later works, her characteristic evocative setting and presentation of the characters as complex human beings with flaws and saving graces are all present, as is a plot both obvious and unexpected.\u00a0 And Cleeves, like her golden age forerunners, lays a fair groundwork for her complex solution.<\/p>\n

Unlike those golden agers, however, there\u2019s quite a bit more fleshing out of her characters and an emphasis on their psychological underpinnings. The tone is darker than an Agatha Christie book, but not that much darker, really, as Christie was no stranger to the horror show life can become, but Cleeves, as a modern writer, is able to be more frank in her depictions of those horrors.<\/p>\n

This is also a propulsive plotted book which, like its classic predecessors, is hard to put down, quite liable to be picked up one evening at sunset and finished….well, perhaps at sunrise next morning.\u00a0 Ann Cleeves is a modern treasure. as rich as any from mystery\u2019s golden past.\u00a0\u00a0— Robin Agnew<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Inspector Ramsay #1 This welcome re-release of the first book in Ann Cleeves\u2019 Inspector Ramsay series, originally published in 1990, is a pure delight.\u00a0 Our bookstore (open 1992-2018) was lucky enough to have many of these\u00a0 now collectible volumes on our shelves.\u00a0 Before breaking out with her Vera books in 1999, the hardworking writer produced … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1991,197,1556,1989,100,1990,1276],"class_list":["post-6240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-a-lesson-in-dying","tag-ann-cleeves","tag-golden-age-style","tag-inspector-ramsay","tag-minotaur-books","tag-re-issue","tag-robin-agnew"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6240"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6306,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6240\/revisions\/6306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}