Debby Fowler - Letting Go

review by Ro Bennett on show Jan 2012

This is the first book in the Felicity Paradise crime novels by Debby Fowler. Babs reviewed The Silver Sea which I bought after her recommendation and thoroughly enjoyed, but I wanted to start with the first book in the series, so I read Letting Go first.

The series starts when Felicity Paradise’s lawyer husband is killed by a hit and run driver in Oxford. Traumatised, she runs away to Cornwall to try to sort her head out. Though the verdict is ‘unlawful killing’ she is convinced that Charlie’s death was deliberate and is linked in some to the case on which he was working.

A chance encounter in a pub at St Ives leads her to uncover a trail of crime which begins in an Oxford College and ends in a famous Cornish garden.

I thought the name Debby Fowler was familiar and looked it up. I found that she has also written three non fiction books: Sprouting which is about sprouting seeds and beans, Nature’s Pharmacy and The Herb Book. The books are published by Truran which is based at Mount Hawke near Truro and printed and bound by R. Booth Ltd of Penryn near Falmouth - so a nice local Cornish product all round!

The books are pricey. Amazon often sell books at a discount but haven’t in this case, probably because it is a small publisher with a limited profit margin. Letting Go was £7.99. It was £6.17 on Kindle, but that is the only one of her six books currently in e book format. The rest are priced at £6.99.

I enjoyed both books although I did find them both rather implausible and far fetched. However it didn’t spoil my pleasure because they were light, easy and readable and I wasn’t expecting Patricia Cornwell. I loved reading about places in Cornwall and the continuation of the characters and their lives which I presume will carry on evolving throughout the series. I will certainly read her other books - they are the sort I like to pick while reading a more complex book

As I read it though, the Chief Inspector reminded me constantly of Jack Shepherd who played Wycliffe. I could picture him and hear his voice all through the books... Consequently I have just bought the first of the Wycliffe books to read for £4.49 from i books ...