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1930s: A classic Cornish crime caper..built on Golden Age sand
The Cornish Coast Murder (British Library Crime Classics)
What you need to know before your trail
Reverend Dodd, vicar of the quiet Cornish village of Boscawen, spends his evenings reading detective stories sitting by the fire. Cosy crime is his thing, but he is the first to be surprised, no shocked when he finds himself in the middle of a real life murder.
One night, Julius Tregarthan, a secretive and ill-tempered magistrate, is found at home with a bullet through his head. The local police are baffled by the lack of clues and suspects.
However when the reverend puts his crime-fiction mind to the test, he might just be able to help the officials and become a part of the story himself. But this time, fact and fiction mix.
Travel Guide
“Boscawen”
Boscawen is a fictional name as is Bude the pseudonym for the author. Both very Cornish sounding names, Bude is a village on the coast of North Cornwall which we’ve used for the setting of this novel. In fact the author’s real name was Ernest Elmore, a theatre producer and director.
Boscawen is a name for several things in Cornwall, a park, road, house in Truro for example. But it’s also the name for a ancient stone circle – Boscawen-un Stone Circle in Penzance.
In the preface to the reprinted novel, it says that the author chose Bude as his Cornish surname ” probably in an attempt to emphasise his focus on the setting for his first novel. Apparently, at the time this novel was written it was rare for novels to be set in real places, (imagine what the booktrail would have made of that!). Fictional settings such as ‘Midshire’ or ‘Wessex’ were used instead. Boscawen although fictional has obvious Cornish references. Bude was ahead of his time in the fact that he realised that detective fiction fans would enjoy mysteries with real settings. Mr Bude, a wise man indeed.
Booktrail Boarding Pass Information: The Cornish Coast Murder (British Library Crime Classics)
Author/Guide: John Bude, British Crime Classics Destination: Cornwall, Bude Departure Time: 1930s
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