Dorothy Martin and her husband, ex-Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt, are on holiday in the Cotswolds, a lovely region of England renowned for beautiful landscapes and long walking trails. They are enjoying their stay at a small b&b, where the other guests include some stand-offish Irish ladies and a young man who seems a bit troubled. When a local farmer is found dead, apparently having fallen off a cliff, and the young man Paul disappears, they cannot help but wonder if the two events are connected; it would be a pity, as both Dorothy and Alan liked young Paul. But perhaps something else entirely is what’s really going on…. The Dorothy Martin cozies are slight but entertaining, if only for the travelog that the stories sometimes resemble. I had a bit of difficulty suspending my disbelief this time around, for a couple of reasons: a huge rising pop star with numerous recordings to his name is not likely to have management consisting only of three part-time people, and although Alan would no doubt be respected by police forces country-wide, it is highly unlikely that he’d be invited into a murder inquiry and it beggars belief that members of the public would automatically defer to him, especially as they know that he is retired. Still, Dorothy is engaging, and this particular entry introduces us to a lovely dog, so mildly recommended. ( )

I really enjoyed the first eight books in this series. I liked the ninth, Winter of Discontent, right up to the denouement, which I found very irritating, so irritating that I didn't read anymore for a few years. I started back up with A Dark and Stormy Night, and was so pleased that I got this book next.

It turned out to be rather boring; Martin seems to have run out of ideas. There was a major subplot which added nothing to the story, except to fill out the pages. We learn all about tea shops and pubs that they visited, how much trouble Dorothy's knees were giving her, and other things that just seem to stretch the pages. This would have made a much better novella.

I am not sure that I will continue with this series, since I have so many series to keep up with. ( )

The Evil That Men Do takes Dorothy and Alan to the Cotswolds. Dorothy's titanium knee replacements are up to most of the walking they do here. Thanks to her beloved husband, Dorothy isn't even hurt when a young Paul Jones' motorcycle slips on some mud and crashes. Paul happens to be staying at the same bed-and-breakfast (B&B) they are. He later disappears. Has that anything to do with a body Alan discovers?

Unlike the norm for a cozy mystery, the murdered man was universally liked. So why was he almost certainly pushed to his death? Although part of the reason was not what I expected, the main part was so easy to guess that I'm afraid I got impatient with the number of chapters Alan and the local police took figuring it out.

As one might guess from the title, the roots of this matter lie in the past. Dorothy will undergo a terrifying and painful ordeal thanks to the villain of the piece. There will also be an addition to the regular supporting cast.

Notes:

The title comes from this quotation: 'The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.' That's from Act III, Scene 2 of William Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar'.

Chapter 1:

a. Alan tells Dorothy some of Broadway's history.

b. There's a George Washington reference.

Chapter 2: 'James James Morrison Morrison Weatherby George Dupree' comes from 'Disobedience,' which appears in When We Were Very Youngby Alan Alexander Milne (better known as 'A. A. Milne', creator of Winnie-the-Pooh). http://ingeb.org/songs/jamesjam.html

Chapter 4:

a. 'Though every prospect pleases, and only man is vile' comes from 'Missionary Hymn (also known as 'From Greenland's Icy Mountains'), by Reginald Heber. http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/fr/fromgrim.htm If you want to listen to Mason's tune for it: https://www.youtube.comwatch?v=S0FLBArUaA8 . Now that I've read the words, I'm with Dorothy in not liking the hymn. How condescending!

b. There's a Harry Potter reference.

Chapter 5: Dorothy talks about the Pre-Raphaelites.

Chapter 6:

a. There is a Lord Peter Wimsey reference.

b. There's a Jeeves reference.

c. Dorothy and Alan go to see Wilde's 'The Importance of Being Earnest'.

d. Mrs. Littlewood mentions some artists and writers who came to Broadway.

Chapter 7:

a. There's an Eliza Doolittle reference (whether from Shaw's play, Pygmalion, or Lerner's musical based on that play, My Fair Lady, or both is not clear).

b. Dorothy dreams about a time she visited her [great or great-great] Aunt Maude.

c. The 'Elegy' that Dorothy's father loved is 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard' by Thomas Gray.
http://www.thomasgray.org/cgi-bin/display.cgi?text=elcc

Chapter 9: There's a Twiggy reference. http://www.twiggylawson.co.uk/

Chapter 10:

a. There's a Bonnie and Clyde reference. https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/bonnie-and-clyde

b. There's a Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie reference.

Chapter 11: Tsk. Alan misquotes Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'. (It's actually 'Lay on, Macduff''. ) http://www.historyhouse.co.uk/articles/macbeth.html

Chapter 12:

a. Dorothy tells readers a joke about the difference between American and British security alerts.

b. Dorothy tells Alan about American attitudes toward our country's weather.

c. There's a reference to romantic suspense author Mary Stewart.

Chapter 13: Dorothy mentions the quotation about a riddle wrapped in... and Alan correctly remembers the author and what he was talking about.

Chapter 16: Dorothy and Alan visit Sezincote.

Chapter 23:

a. We meet a friendly and well-trained stray dog.

b. Dorothy thinks Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers is, for her, the finest mystery novel ever written.

Chapter 25: The Thirty-Nine Steps is the first of five Richard Hannay novels by John Buchan.

Chapter 26:

a. Dorothy comes up with a new name for Buster the mutt.

b. Interesting that Dorothy uses 'dumb blonds' twice. It's okay for horses who might be of either sex, but the blond humans who are commonly perceived as dumb are blondes (feminine form).

c. We learn something about palomino horses

Chapter 30:

a. 'Had I stopped beating my wife' is probably a reference to a real or apocryphal legal court question: Have you stopped beating your wife -- yes or no? It's supposed to be a lose-lose question because neither answer would be good for the witness/suspect asked it. Personally, I think that if the witness/suspect has never beaten his wife, he could complain to the judge that the lawyer is trying to get him to commit perjury.

b. There's a Miss Marple reference.

Chapter 33:

a. There's a 'Spirit of '76' reference. The painting is by Archibald McNeal Willard and was previously known as 'Yankee Doodle'. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sprit_of_'76.2.jpeg

b. There are also references to Brother Cadfael and Sherlock Holmes.

Dog lovers: there's a friendly mutt that's mostly spaniel to enjoy.

Cat lovers: Sorry, but Samantha (Sam) the Siamese-British Blue and her half-sister, Esmeralda (Emmy) the British Blue-tabby are mostly being looked after by next-door neighbor Jane Langland. ( )

Dorothy and Alan go on vacation in the Cotswolds, but it isn't long before a body is found, and the two of them, especially Dorothy, can't resist getting involved in the investigation. The deceased is a man everyone liked, but there are some odd things going on involving a celebrity and a social worker. The connections must be puzzled out. This particular installment is peppered with references to other mystery series from the classic mysteries of Sayers to the recent mysteries of Elizabeth J. Duncan and even references to the Harry Potter books. While it's not the strongest mystery in the series, it is a quite pleasant one. I did find myself missing the usual Sherebury setting, but a trip to the Cotswolds is always nice. ( )

Dorothy Martin is off on a walking tour, and unexplained events occur. Of course, Dorothy and her husband Alan feel the need to investigate and offer their own special brand of expertise to local law enforcement officers. This time it nearly spells the end of our hero, Dorothy, when she has a very close escape near the end of the book. This is a good way to while away a few long winter evenings! ( )