An Alasdair and Toby and Cambridge Fellows Mystery #1
Alasdair and Toby Investigations #3
Cambridge Fellows Mysteries
Alasdair Hamilton and Toby Bowe are the darlings of post-war British cinema, playing Holmes and Watson onscreen and off. When they’re called on to portray their fellow amateur detectives—Orlando Coppersmith and Jonty Stewart—not only do they find distinct challenges in depicting real people, they also become embroiled in solving a century-old murder.
How did a body lie undiscovered so long in the Stewart family vaults, who’s been covering up the murder ever since and why was the victim killed in the first place?
Again, I can't believe it took me nearly 7 months to read The Case of the Undiscovered Corpse especially since it involves one of my all-time favorite mystery solving duos, Jonty Smith and Orlando Coppersmith, and another of Charlie Cochrane's amateur detecting duos that is definitely climbing higher and higher on the same list, Toby Bowe and Alasdair Hamilton. Can only lay it down to my slowly returning reading mojo that took a hit during the pandemic. After catching up on the most recent adventures in their individual series I couldn't not jump in and boy am I glad I did!
I'll be honest, the first time I was introduced to Alasdair and Toby wayback when in The Case of the Overprotective Ass(originally appearing in the author's Home Fires Burning duet which I read in 2015) I never imagined they would get to play Jonty and Orlando onscreen(in the book but oh wouldn't it be wonderful if it was really on our screens?) but now that she has combined the two and that is exactly what A&T are preparing to do, it seems such an obvious crossover. Hindsight, right?😉 I've read many stories where authors have linked some of their series together, in both small and huge ways, and though Undiscovered Corpse may not be the most original it is definitely one of the most satisfying.
When the pairs meet to discuss personal idiosyncrasies that should be included but also left out, i.e. the subtle and not so subtle looks of longing A&T often sneak into their portrayals of Holmes and Watson that somehow go unnoticed to many but not the knowing and watchful eye of J&O, discussion turns to the undiscovered corpse found in the Stewart vault in 1914. Unable to let that delicious morsal go the four men are off and running. Obviously trying to discover the truth from nearly 40 years prior, especially considering the poor Drayton had been lying their unnoticed for decades already, is not going to be easy.
What great mystery is easily solved? Let's face it, if it's easily solved than it probably doesn't deserve the "great" moniker.
So as you are well aware I won't spoil anything which means no details of the mystery will be found here. Will the foursome find anything definitive? Unlikely but perhaps. The fun for me is in the hunt and they definitely do a lot of hunting. I will say that for some, Undiscovered Corpse may be confusing or a convolution of too many possibilities but for me it's the many possibles and the chemistry between our four MCs that makes for such high level fun.
The above mentioned chemistry is highlighted in the bouncing of ideas off each other but it's also a growing friendship. A&T more than once ponder if they will ever be able to live as J&O but as they are in the public eye it seems a very far in the future possibility but you know it gives them hope when they see what the older pair have carved out for themselves. It's this very generational "gap"(for lack of a better term) that leaves historical in the LGBTQ genre appealing to me. I love history anyway but in LGBTQ stories it reminds us just how far society has come, we have a long way to go acceptance and equality wise but it makes me appreciate where we as humans are and heightens the hope that one day loving who we wish will never be questioned or looked down on.
My above statement is further proof that as always, Charlie Cochrane respects the past with the nitty, gritty, and her own brand of witty details of yesteryear(on multiple fronts) but those details never appear as a school lesson, The Case of the Undiscovered Corpse is cozy, entertaining fun of the highest variety.
For those wondering about reading the individual series, Cambridge Fellows Mysteries and Alasdair & Toby Investigations, prior to Undiscovered Corpse? You don't. As a series-read-in-order kind of gal, I can't imagine not having read them but it is not at all necessary. The chemistry between our two couples is never in doubt, minor mentions of previous cases pepper throughout but don't play a part in the investigations. I will warn you though, if you are unfamiliar with either or both the established series, your taste will be piqued and want to devour all their great cases. You won't be sorry, they are all brilliantly delightful, which is an odd description for murder and mayhem but no less truthful. As they say in one of my favorite shows(completely different genre but no less accurate): This is the way.😉
Cambridge September 3rd 1952
“Good morning, Orlando. Lovely to see you.”
Those words had been spoken first thing in the morning on numerous occasions and in many different settings over the best part of fifty years. From lips that had once been young and full, but which were now showing fine lines and downed with white, rather like the hair which crowned Jonty Stewart’s head. A full set of hair—he’d inherited his paternal grandfather’s locks rather than his father’s bald pate—yet the tawny gold had now all gone to be replaced with hoary silver.
“Lovely to see you, too.” Orlando Coppersmith turned in the bed, easing into a more comfortable position. He was currently beset with an issue concerning his left rotator cuff, or so the doctor had diagnosed, one that should get better with exercise. It had been a result of over-exertion in the garden and not, as Jonty told everyone, due to Orlando having dealt the bridge cards too vigorously.
“What does your diary have in store for you today?” The airy tone in Jonty’s voice as he asked the question immediately put his partner on alert.
“The usual. College business and the like given the arrival of students is hull up on the horizon. Why do you ask?”
“I’d like to suggest a slight change to plans dinner-wise. Are you free tonight?”
“Ye-es. Why?”
“I had a phone call last evening, when you were at your orgy.” That was another line which had been used innumerable times over the years, referring to Orlando being out playing cards. He’d learned to ignore it. “It was to invite us to dinner and a discussion.”
“A commission, do you think?” It had been a while since they’d had a really good mystery to get their teeth into. Odds and ends of investigations, yes, including ones bound up with the war that they simply couldn’t accept, because they’d have had little chance of fulfilling them. Finding where Aunt Elsie had hidden the family silver because she thought that Hitler would invade—said aunt having then been so inconsiderate as to get herself killed in an air raid before she could share the location of the treasure with the rest of the family—had been a typical kind of request. As were the string of entreaties to locate the whereabouts of men who’d been declared missing in action, at least one of whom Jonty had decided had likely taken a convenient opportunity to get away from home.
At least they could now decline the commissions with dignity, pleading old age and the inability to travel as far as they used to, alongside not being up to the physical challenge of digging up bomb sites to find Aunt Elsie’s spoons. These excuses might have been seen through had the applicants observed the pair of them working vigorously in the garden at Forsythia Cottage or indeed still almost as vigorously sharing the pleasures of the double bed.
“It’s not about a commission as such, although there’s a peripheral link to an old, unsolved mystery.” Jonty raised an eyebrow. “One we might have got involved with at the time had we not been otherwise occupied. No, this is something quite different and rather exciting.”
“Am I allowed a clue to whatever you’re on about?”
“Not a single one. I want you to come to this meeting with an open mind and if I drop the merest hint, you’ll mull it over all day. Suffice to say the discussion could lead us into pastures entirely new for us, which is rather nice at our time of life, wouldn’t you say?”
“I’ll only say one way or the other when I know what these pastures new are and whether they’ll be green or arid.” Orlando was rather pleased with his analogy. “You’re not even going to make an indication as to whom I’m eating with?”
“No, because it risks giving the game away entirely. A knight of the realm. Title conferred as opposed to inherited. You’ve met him before, although that doesn’t cut down the field. Very nice chap, who has a proposal for us and—” Jonty cuffed Orlando’s arm. “That’s quite enough. You’re wheedling secrets out of me. I’m easing my stiff old bones out of this bed before you spoil all the elements of surprise.”
“Just one more question, then. Will this different and exciting whatever-it-is be the sort of thing to make me jump for joy or run away screaming?”
“I can’t imagine you running away screaming from anything, at this point in your life. Quite below your dignity. I might have to see if I can engineer it happening, simply for the novelty.” Jonty, now on his feet, stretched extravagantly, like a great cat rousing itself.
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“True, oh light of my life, although that’s simply because I can’t formulate an answer. I’ve been weighing it up since last night and I honestly don’t know. All I can state with any certainty is that we’d be stupid not to explore the possibilities. Too young still to be stick-in-the-muds.” Jonty made an elaborate bow. “And now I exit, if not pursued by a bear, then pursued by your third degree. Patience, old man.”
“Patience my arse,” Orlando muttered, although he couldn’t help smiling. Whatever happened over dinner would turn out to be gratifying. If he liked this mysterious proposal, then it would add a new challenge to their lives and if he hated it then he could go into a pleasing yet dignified huff for at least twenty-four hours. And tease Jonty over his rashness for the next few weeks.
Despite the ache in Orlando’s shoulder, life was still good.
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Because wherever Jonty and Orlando go, trouble seems to find them. Sunny, genial Jonty and prickly, taciturn Orlando may seem like opposites. But their balance serves them well as they sift through clues to crimes, and sort through their own emotions to grow closer. But at the end of the day, they always find the truth . . . and their way home together.
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Be sure and check the author's website for a complete chronological list of novels, novellas, free short stories in the Cambridge Fellows Mysteries Universe.
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Cambridge Fellows Mysteries
Sunday's Short Stack
Monday's Mysterious Mayhem
Alasdair and Toby Investigations
As Charlie Cochrane couldn't be trusted to do any of her jobs of choice - like managing a rugby team - she writes. Her favourite genre is gay fiction, predominantly historical romances/mysteries, but she's making an increasing number of forays into the modern day. She's even been known to write about gay werewolves - albeit highly respectable ones.
Her Cambridge Fellows series of Edwardian romantic mysteries were instrumental in seeing her named Speak Its Name Author of the Year 2009. She’s a member of both the Romantic Novelists’ Association and International Thriller Writers Inc.
The Case of the Undiscovered Corpse #1/#3
Alasdair and Toby Investigations
An Act of Detection #1
The Case of the Grey Assassin #2
Cambridge Fellows Mysteries
Series #1-12
Series #1-12
