Blog Tour: Blind Pool – Vicki Goldie*

Read my review of Blind Witness here.

In 1923 flushed with the success of their last sluething escapade Major Alasdair Charters, a blind WW1 veteran and former intelligence officer and his aristocratic wife The Honourable Melissa, accept an invitation to a country house party on Somerset Levels in Winter.

There they find a dysfuctional family all living in a huge old house on a hill. Overnight the storm brings with it the flood waters and the house becomes surrounded and cut off from the rescue just as a murderer begins to stalk the residents.

An exciting murder mystery in the Golden Age tradition.Will our sleuths discover hidden secrets and unamsk the murderer before anymore else is killed?

This series follows amateur sleuths Major Alasdair Charters and the Honourable Melissa Charters as they inadvertently muddle their way through many investigations but always arrive at the truth. Alasdair was blinded in the First World War and uses his special skills to gain ‘insight’ into the crimes. The Honourable Melissa, who likes to think she is a socialist, has a large family and set of friends who always seem to run into problems. The books are set both in England and abroad.

Having a husband who is blind, author Vicki Goldie likes to explore perceptions about this disability and push the boundaries.

Vicki lives in Poole Dorset with her blind physiotherapist husband. She has a lifelong fascination with the Art Deco period and with books of the Golden Age of Crime. This led her to envision a series featuring a blind detective set in the 1920s. Blind Pool is the second in the series.

She is a co-pioneer for a reading charity Read Easy Bournemouth and volunteers at The Russell Cotes Museum in Bournemouth.

She is currently writing book three in the series Blind Haven set in Bournemouth.

My thoughts:

Another cracking case for the Charters’ to investigate in deepest Somerset.

Invited to a friend’s family home (even though neither is keen on staying at any more country houses, and who can blame them!), to investigate the possibility her grandmother was murdered, there’s soon bodies stacking up as the house becomes cut off by flooding and heavy rain.

I’m rather fond of Melissa and Alasdair, and this, their second outing, is full of the best Golden Age tropes and knowing winks to the crime loving reader, not least the odd mention of the excellent Poirot.

Despite being blind, Alastair sees a lot more clearly than most, and uses his brilliant mind, in conjunction with Melissa’s knowledge of psychology to work through the series of deaths and their causes.

Thoroughly enjoyable and great fun, I think Vicki Goldie may actually be from the Golden Age of Crime and have a handy time machine – these give even the marvellous Mrs Christie a run for her money. Bring on book three!

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.