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book review: Old Mrs. Camelot, by Emery Bonnet
- Aug 10, 2008 at 4:25 AM
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Old Mrs. Camelot
Emery Bonnet
The Blackston Company
274 Pages
Felicity Winifred Carter, a.k.a. Emery Bonnet wrote murder mysteries with her husband, John Hubert Arthur Colson, a.k.a. John Bonnet. In her last publication, Emery Bonnet thrilled her audience with the story of Robina Adams, a young woman working in the military during World War II in England. Robina Adams is the main character in Old Mrs.Camelot, which readers considered to be Bonnet's finest work of literature.
The story is set in the upper-class town of Croome. Bonnet describes the setting so well, that it is easy to picture oneself there while reading this book. Croome, not unlike most towns, has more than its share of people who nothing better to do than gossip. Robina searches for a place to live and soon finds herself living with Old Mrs. Camelot-the town's most notorious gossip. Mrs. Camelot does have her redeeming qualities. Robina and the elderly harpy become fast friends.
Early in the novel, Miss Adams finds love. She's an art student with a passion for art-and for her art instructor. Throughout this book, she languishes for the affections of this handsome man named Alastair. She finds this relationship is held tightly in the grasp of the hand of fate. Fate has a way of changing many things in the young woman's life. She eventually has to do her best to prove that she was not the person responsible for murdering Mrs. Camelot. The entire town seems to be suspicious of Robina. They had good reason to be. She made a terrible mistake. Mrs. Camelot was well-known for her superior attitude and was somewhat of a control freak. She even took charge of the murder investigation-from her grave.
This wonderfully written murder mystery/romance novel isn't predictable. That's what makes it stand out, in my mind. I loved the way Emery Bonnet flawlessly wrote the plot to Old Mrs. Camelot. She used strong characters that are memorable; she didn't waste time writing about people and things that didn't lend to the plot. It was refreshing to read an older book. The romance scenes weren't graphic. Much was left to the imagination of the reader. The same goes for the murder scene. Since this is English literature, there are some British words that some readers may not be initially familiar with. The context that these words are used in makes it easy to figure out their meanings. On a scale of one to ten, I give this book a fifteen!
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Nice, I'll have to look it up!
- CCmom05
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