Murder on the Cliffs is the first in a planned series. Daphne recognizes a character because his eyes resemble those of his sister, whom she saw only as a corpse. The cook in an aristocratic household of some twenty servants helps the head gardener move furniture into a room. When Daphne is startled, 'The lukewarm tea stuck in my throat.' She persuades reluctant villagers to talk by promising to keep their confidences to herself, and then immediately repeats them to her gossipy host.

Though atmospheric at times, it does not otherwise greatly resemble du Maurier's more seamlessly credible and psychologically perceptive style. Rebecca was du Maurier's fifth novel, not her first, but du Maurier fans will likely find this inconsistency easier to overlook than the style of the first-person narrative. Along I went, mesmerized by the rising, angry ocean, its snarling waves lashing against the shapeless boulders.' By page two, she has found the corpse, 'her abundant black hair splayed across the sand, eyes wide open. 'Walking with the wind, I allowed it to determine my direction. Escaping the 1928 London season with its pressure to find a husband, she visits her mother's retired nanny on the coast of Cornwall, 'a dreadful old gossip.' Danger appeals to Daphne. In Murder on the Cliffs, Daphne is twenty-one and has not yet penned a novel, though she keeps a journal and has writing ambitions and an adventurous imagination. For fans of du Maurier's novels, it's an enticing premise. Murder on the Cliffs imagines that the young Daphne du Maurier happened across the corpse of a beautiful woman and couldn't resist investigating who murdered her, thereby gaining the inspiration for her masterpiece Rebecca.

Murder on the Cliffs by Joanna Challis