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As mentioned yesterday, Unnatural Causes takes place in Suffolk, in a small community where everybody knows everybody else.
All the residents and weekend guests of Monksmere Head are writers of some kind; romance, crime, non-fiction, literary critics, plus the orphaned and crippled little typist. And of course these greater or lesser artists have their little quirks, their allies and their enemies.
In many ways this novel can be compared to Dorothy Sayers´ The Five Red Herrings (1931) which takes place in a colony of temperamental Scottish painters. I remember that I found the story a bit confusing, but I fell for the expression ´a red herring´ which was new to me then. (Not 1931, but mid1980s, probably). And as usual, I was impressed by Sayers´ solution.
Another variation of the artistic circle is Caroline Graham´s Written in Blood, an Inspector Barnaby novel from 1994. A famous artist agrees to visit Midsomer Worthy´s Writer´s Circle, somewhat surprisingly, and a death takes place. Again, the key to the plot is the interrelationship among the writers.
Do you remember similar examples of murder among a small circle of artists? Do you like this kind of setting?
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