This is a third paperback collection of short stories from the hard-working Oxford Writers group, published by local firm OxPens. Each of the fifteen stories is set in, or close to, Oxford – ‘town’, ‘gown’ or countryside. Most take place in the present day, but there are a couple of well-researched historical tales, one of them featuring an ingenious art scam taking the reader back in time to1857.
The title story, ‘The Bodleian Murders’, throws a distinctly unpleasant light on the behaviour of the university’s most distinguised librarians; its author herself worked as a librarian. Let’s hope she was not writing from experience! Several other stories involve violent death, including the burning (as a heretic) of Archbishop Cranmer in Broad Street. By contrast, ‘A Perfectly Marvellous View’ is a present-day tale in which a wronged wife brings about the death of her faithless husband by stuffing him with rich food and making him climb the 127 steps of St. Mary’s church tower in the High Street.
Other stories include variations on the theme of dysfunctional families, romance sometimes found, sometimes lost, sometimes bitter-sweet, and a satirical look at the world of the cultural festival.
Perhaps no reader is going to enjoy every story equally but, at £7.99 (with part of the price going to Oxford Homeless Pathways), there is surely something for everyone. I thought this book hard to beat for summer reading, whether on beach, patio, airport lounge or even the top deck of the bus.
The title story, ‘The Bodleian Murders’, throws a distinctly unpleasant light on the behaviour of the university’s most distinguised librarians; its author herself worked as a librarian. Let’s hope she was not writing from experience! Several other stories involve violent death, including the burning (as a heretic) of Archbishop Cranmer in Broad Street. By contrast, ‘A Perfectly Marvellous View’ is a present-day tale in which a wronged wife brings about the death of her faithless husband by stuffing him with rich food and making him climb the 127 steps of St. Mary’s church tower in the High Street.
Other stories include variations on the theme of dysfunctional families, romance sometimes found, sometimes lost, sometimes bitter-sweet, and a satirical look at the world of the cultural festival.
Perhaps no reader is going to enjoy every story equally but, at £7.99 (with part of the price going to Oxford Homeless Pathways), there is surely something for everyone. I thought this book hard to beat for summer reading, whether on beach, patio, airport lounge or even the top deck of the bus.