Exclusive interview with author Carola Dunna and a review of her new mystery set in 1970s England
Rating: 3 Stars
By Gabrielle Pantera
“I was visiting my sister in Cornwall,” says Valley of the Shadows author Carola Dunn. “We went for a walk at Rocky Valley a narrow valley with a tumbling stream that widens at the end into an inlet of the sea. Sitting on the rocks, looking over the inlet, I thought, what if Eleanor Trewynn, the protagonist of my Cornish Mystery series, came here…and saw a body floating?”
Dunn continues her Cornish mystery series set in the early 1970s with widow Eleanor Trewyn and her niece Detective Sargeant Megan Pencarrow.
Eleanor, Megan Eleanor’s neighbor Nick are out on a walk when Nick discovers a half-drowned Indian man floating in the water. Megan manages to get the young man out of the water. The young man is half out of his mind and rambling about his family being trapped in a cave and his mother dying. He loses consciousness. Detective Inspector Scrumble, Megan’s boss, thinks the family is trying to illegally enter the country. Britain has ended its open-door policy for former colonials.
For the book’s research, Dunn looked online for the information needed. She also found email addresses of experts willing to answer questions. “The book is set in about 1970, so much of my research was historical,” says Dunn. “The most important subject, which provided the premise of the story, was the troubles of Indians in East Africa.”
When Kenya and Uganda gained independence, Indians living there, as citizens of the British Empire, were allowed to choose between Kenyan, Ugandan, British, or Indian citizenship. Many choose British, although their families had lived in Africa for generations. However, the British government changed the law, so that citizenship did not necessarily entail right of residency. Kenya and Uganda started the “Africanisation” of their countries. As a result, thousands of people became refugees with no country willing to admit them.
Eleanor and Megan are opposites in personality. Eleanor is kind-hearted and ready to give people the benefit of the double. Her niece is cynical as any officer can be. The two work well together to solve mysteries. The 70s seem a simpler time, but can be just as deadly. Dunn mixes mystery with political issues. Cornwall is a great backdrop for the series. Those who’ve never been may want to pack a bag and check out the countryside.
Dunn also researched tides and currents, lifesaving, ambulances, public housing, shipping, lifeboats, Truro, Falmouth, smuggling, and the Old Squire of Boscastle.
All three Cornish mysteries, Manna from Hades, A Colourful Death, and The Valley of the Shadow, will be released in the UK in June. Dunn’s Daisy Dalrymple mystery series has 21 books in that series. Dunn says getting the earlier Daisy mysteries released as ebooks was challenging. “When the contracts were signed ebooks didn’t exist, plus I changed agents in the middle of the series,” says Dunn. “But now all my books, mystery and Regency, are available in various e-formats.” The first ten Daisy books will be translated into Polish. Four Daisy mysteries will soon be added to the four already available in audio.
Dunn recently completed writing the 21st book in her Daisy Dalrymple series. Set in England in 1920s, Heirs of the Body will be released by Minotaur in the U.S. in December 2013 and by Constable in the UK in January 2014.
Dunn lives in Oregon. She has many group book signings scheduled for Oregon this summer. She will also sign books in December in Seattle, Los Angles, and San Diego. Dunn was born in London.
Valley of the Shadow: A Cornish Mystery by Carola Dunn. Hardcover, 320 pages, Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (December 11, 2012) Language: English, ISBN-13: 978-0312600679 $ 24.99
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