Murder on the Cliffs by Joanna Challis

This novel features a young Daphne Du Maurier in a fictionalized murder mystery. Her future husband is included in the storyline though a romantic atmosphere is not yet created. I suspect the author is planning a sequel which would gradually address their romantic relationship in future stories. But then again, that is only my opinion.



I shall just make a brief description of the novel. It's about Daphne visiting her mother's former nurse and ending up being tangled in a murder mystery. Daphne does not witness the actual murder but rather stumbles upon the aftermath of the crime. During one of her evening strolls , she comes upon an extremely distressed child hovering over the dead body of her brother's fiancee.

The author was very concise with her prose and actually delivered a plausible scenario. Unfortunately, I was dismayed with the ending as I developed a deep sympathy towards the character who ended up being the killer. Creating a different killer would require a drastic rehash of the story so I guess I will have to content myself with the ending.