Review: Sweet Poison

Sweet Poison by David Roberts
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's 1935 and the Duke of Mersham and his wife Connie have invited a select group of men to stay at Mersham Castle with the aim of reaching some kind of accord about the relationship between Germany and the UK. He has invited Lord Weaver, the press baron, together with his wife Blanche and daughter Hermione, war veteran General Sir Alistair Craig VC, an up-and-coming conservative MP Peter Larmore and his wife Celia, peace campaigner Bishop Cecil Haycroft and his wife Honoria, and the new under secretary at the German Embassy Baron Helmut von Friedberg.

To occupy the petulant Honoria, whose paramour Charlie Lomax declined an invitation at the last minute, the Duke has strong-armed his younger brother, Lord Edward Corinth to come down for dinner. Edward may look like a typical feckless aristocrat, more money than sense, but in fact he has a keen brain and loves to test himself physically.

On the way down, running late and consequently driving too fast, Edward crashes his car and is rescued by a journalist, Verity Browne, who claims to be from Country Life, writing a series on English castles. Grateful for her assistance, Edward invites Verity to spend the night at the Castle rather than in the nearby hotel. However, shortly after their arrival, as Verity is entertaining everyone with the tale of their meet-cute, the General suddenly starts choking and dies at the table. While all the other guests are sure he has had a heart attack, Edward and Verity aren't so sure, Edward thinks it bears all the hallmarks of cyanide poisoning - something the doctor subsequently confirms.

Eager to avoid publicity, everyone, including the police plays down the death, suggesting the General may have committed suicide, or perhaps mistaken his old army cyanide pill for the painkillers he was taking. But unconvinced Verity and Edward join forces, despite him discovering that she is actually a member of the Communist Party and a journalist for the Daily Worker.

As other reviews have said, Edward bears a resemblance to Lord Peter Wimsey (right down to the apartment in Albany), although Verity is more like some of the characters Lord Peter encounters on some of his adventures.

I did enjoy this, perhaps marred slightly for me by a brutal event close to the end - I understand its purpose etc but it did upset me a little (reading late at night). Otherwise, I am interested to see where this will go and have already downloaded the second book.

Also, I really like the new covers - definitely a factor in my decision to download the book.

Read on my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

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