Anyone who has ever been to the Yorkshire seaside town of Scarborough will be familiar with its Castle, Spa, headland and sandy beaches. And anyone who is unfamiliar with the place will feel a little more at home after reading Deadly Dancing at the Seaview Hotel, the latest in Glenda Young’s cosy crime series featuring landlady Helen Dexter.
Fans of the books will know that widow Helen offers bed and award-winning breakfast — with, invariably, a side order of murder! Ever since the wonderfully named tribute group Twelvis stayed there in book one, Murder at the Seaview Hotel, her guests have tended to come a cropper. The same can be said in Deadly Dancing, where a group of professional dancers, in town for an international competition, take over all the rooms at the Seaview… until there is an unexpected vacancy after one of them meets an untimely end in a most unusual fashion, leaving a full dance card of people who could have done the dastardly deed.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. As the book opens, there has been another death, that of Jean’s beloved mother. The heartbroken chef is the creator of the aforementioned award-winning breakfasts, but she elects to work on through her grief and, as a consequence, has a big part to play in this latest story. Jean has also inherited a nice pot of money from her Mum and when she attracts a suitor with a shady past, Helen’s alarm bells start to ring. But will her stubborn friend listen? Will she, heck.
It’ll have to go on the back burner though, because the pair have enough to occupy themselves in a hotel filled with demanding guests. And when another familiar face checks in and seems intent on causing trouble, Helen is close to losing her usual cool. Luckily, she can go on long walks with her lovely rescue greyhound Suki – but even the dog seems out of sorts about something, these days.
Fans of Strictly Come Dancing, or ballroom dancing in general, will love Deadly Dancing at the Seaview Hotel. It offers some tantalising behind-the-scenes peeks at life beyond the sequins and glamour – including an evocative scene inside Scarborough’s famous Spa Ballroom. This author knows her locations well, and it shows in the postcard-perfect renditions of the East Coast resort’s most well known landmarks – so beautifully described you can almost smell the chips and hear the cries of the seagulls.
Those familiar with the Helen Dexter books will be glad to hear that many regular characters return, including Miriam, the sour-faced owner of the hotel next door; local entrepreneur Gav who is about to open yet another business bearing his name – a decision he may live to regret; cake loving DC Hall; and romantic interest Jimmy, an Elvis impersonator who is all shook up about Helen and has a proposition that has her hot under the collar.
Lovers of crime novels on the cosy edge of the spectrum will certainly enjoy this book – and if you haven’t yet read the three previous novels in the series, you’re in for a treat. As for the latest addition? There’s plenty going on here, but running through the myriad narratives like Scarborough in a stick of rock is a murder mystery that’s destined to keep you on your toes until the band tunes up for the last dance. So why not give it a spin around the floo, dah-ling?
If you enjoy crime with a seaside setting, give Keith Nixon’s Dig Two Graves a try, set in Margate, Kent.
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CFL Rating: 4 Stars
