A sixties star. Six wives.
One anniversary weekend that goes very badly wrong.
Frank and Ella Raleigh are taking a break. After the excitement of The Ottery Lottery, they decide to celebrate their wedding anniversary with a peaceful weekend at the luxurious Cobb Country House Hotel, just outside Lyme Regis.
Beautiful gardens. Good food. A comfortable room. A walk or two.
No murder.
Then they discover that faded 1960s chart star Cornelius Spooner is staying at the same hotel with his band, the Portobello Crooners.
Cornelius is performing a seaside concert called Corn on the Cobb.
His former wives start arriving. So does his number-one fan. Old secrets surface. Old grudges return.
And before Frank and Ella’s anniversary break is over, one woman is found dead in a well, another is pulled from the sea, another is killed with a crossbow bolt and the hotel begins to resemble the setting of a particularly murderous Agatha Christie novel.
Corn on the Cobb is Book Four of the East Devon Cosy Mysteries, combining old-fashioned show business, seaside nostalgia, country-house intrigue and Frank and Ella Raleigh’s most dangerous investigation yet.
The Six Wives of Cornelius Spooner
Walk in Frank and Ella’s Footsteps
Frank and Ella’s circular walk in Lyme Regis is based on one of Liz Jones series of commemorative walks. More information can be found the walk at Liz Jones Series of Commemorative Walks.
A circular walk starting in Lyme Regis → Town Mill → River Lim → Uplyme → countryside → coast
Distance: about 5 miles
Difficulty: reasonably easy
Best accompanied by: sensible footwear and considerably fewer murders
You’ll find the complete walk in Corn on the Cobb.
Six wives.
Four murders.
One very old grudge.
Corn on the Cobb
Book Four of the East Devon Cosy Mysteries
Who Will Enjoy Corn on the Cobb?
Corn on the Cobb may be for you if you enjoy:
- traditional British cosy mysteries
- country-house murders
- closed-circle suspect groups
- seaside settings
- 1960s music nostalgia
- eccentric celebrities
- old grudges
- family and relationship secrets
- serial-killer puzzles without graphic violence
- amateur detectives
- Golden Age-style denouements
- East Devon and Lyme Regis walks
- gentle humour
- mysteries where tiny clues matter
- Agatha Christie-style “everyone in the room” endings
And particularly: mysteries where almost everyone has a reason to dislike the man at the centre of the story.
