I’ve read my second Mrs Bradley book, the first being Speedy Death, and I’m really appreciating how unusual a detective Mrs Bradley is! This is definitely a series to read if you’re looking for unconventional detectives from Golden Age writers.

In Come Away, Death, Mrs Bradley follows the husband of a school friend as he brings a group around a pilgrimage across Greece, trying to recreate ancient rituals. Mrs Bradley is very useful, mostly in making sure the three young boys (they’re about 10 to 13) don’t get into too much trouble, and also partly because at the end of the trip, the severed head of the most annoying member is found. And of course going to the police would be too much trouble, so Mrs Bradley to the rescue it is.

The first thing to note about the book is that the murder takes place rather late, in the second half of the book, in fact! If you think of this as a travelogue of eccentric British people with a murder popping up at the end, I think you’d enjoy the book more. I suspect that if I was waiting for the murder, I would be a lot more impatient with this book – as it is, I made it halfway through and was enjoying myself before I realised that this was supposed to be a murder mystery and wondered when someone would die (and who).

The mystery itself is wrapped up rather speedily, mostly because Mrs Bradley is a psychiatrist and after travelling with the group for so long, has a good grasp of the characters of the people she’s with. Most of the other detectives, like Poirot, come onto the scene after the murder has been committed and need to take some time to get to know everyone, whereas Mrs Bradley was there from the start. So all she really needs to do is to find the evidence that confirms her suspicions.

The only part of the book that gave me pause were the descriptions of Greece. I’m definitely not a historian so I don’t know if it’s as backwards as the characters make it sound, if Mitchell was poking fun at British attitudes towards foreign countries, or if this was a reflection of how she truly felt. I really hope it’s the second option.

Overall, I found this to be a fun read and Mrs Bradley to be a refreshing change from most detectives. If you’re in the mood for some Golden Age mystery and you want to try something different, definitely check this out. I am looking forward to reading more Mrs Bradley mysteries.