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After a twenty-year absence, Merlyn Cantelo returns to Leeds to attend his late aunt Clarissa?s funeral. Far from being welcomed back into the fold of his large and quarrelsome family, he is viewed by many with suspicion and distrust ? especially since his timely reappearance has thwarted the prospect of a tidy inheritance. However, all is more complex than it seems. The teenage Merlyn only fled his home at the vehement insistence of his sometimes clairvoyant aunt, who foresaw for him a life blighted by violence and death. Moreover, the root of this danger supposedly lies somewhere within the family? Merlyn knows that if he is to discover whether his aunt?s fears were justified, he must come to terms with his tragic past ? and delve into the murky history of the Cantelo family.
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The organist was playing yet another slow, amorphous piece, and for the mourners who had taken their pews early, enough was becoming enough. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
The organist was playing yet another slow, amorphous piece, and for the mourners who had taken their pews early, enough was becoming enough. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
I expected more from this novel, struggling to find any great excitement in the storyline I finished the book asking; `What was that all about?'
Natives of Leeds would probably get more out of the story, local knowledge providing them with a visual backdrop that the author does not.
The large cast was confusing but the drawn family tree helped, rather than having their character traits explained I would prefer being shown. These characters don't jump to conclusions they plummet into mind-boggling assumptions, leaving the question: `Where did that come from?'
I usually like the writing style Barnard seems to be attempting but his jerky, jumpy method was annoying. After this criticism I still intend to try again with this author because there is also lots to appreciate, witty turns of phrase, interesting offbeat characters and acute social observations.
Editing of this book appears to have been omitted and it contains a number of mistakes including the main character being wrongly named on the book jacket and Amazon synopsis- his name was Docherty not Cantelo.
Natives of Leeds would probably get more out of the story, local knowledge providing them with a visual backdrop that the author does not.
The large cast was confusing but the drawn family tree helped, rather than having their character traits explained I would prefer being shown. These characters don't jump to conclusions they plummet into mind-boggling assumptions, leaving the question: `Where did that come from?'
I usually like the writing style Barnard seems to be attempting but his jerky, jumpy method was annoying. After this criticism I still intend to try again with this author because there is also lots to appreciate, witty turns of phrase, interesting offbeat characters and acute social observations.
Editing of this book appears to have been omitted and it contains a number of mistakes including the main character being wrongly named on the book jacket and Amazon synopsis- his name was Docherty not Cantelo.
0 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Robert Barnard, currently lives with his wife in Yorkshire. He was born in Essex on 23 November, 1936. Educated at the Royal Grammar School in Colchester and at Balliol College, Oxford, taking his Ph.D. from the University of Bergen, Norway, in 1972, he spent many years as a distinguished academic while establishing himself as one of today's most distinguished crime writers. His fascination with the pure detective story is evident in his many novels.
Merlyn Cantelo returns to his home town of Leeds. He has come back to the city to claim the house of a late aunt. An aunt, who adopted him after a tormented early childhood. His late aunt had a `gift.' She was known as a medium or as she preferred to be called a clairvoyant. She had predicted that there would be violence in Merlyn's future life and had suggested to him that he should live abroad with her distant family in Italy.
Now Merlyn has returned to Leeds, a place that has both good and bad memories for him. Now that he is back is he about to find out the real truth about his aunt's prediction . . .
Merlyn Cantelo returns to his home town of Leeds. He has come back to the city to claim the house of a late aunt. An aunt, who adopted him after a tormented early childhood. His late aunt had a `gift.' She was known as a medium or as she preferred to be called a clairvoyant. She had predicted that there would be violence in Merlyn's future life and had suggested to him that he should live abroad with her distant family in Italy.
Now Merlyn has returned to Leeds, a place that has both good and bad memories for him. Now that he is back is he about to find out the real truth about his aunt's prediction . . .
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
9 reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Murder as a family affair.
2 May 2005
Format:Hardcover
After more than two decades abroad, Merlyn Docherty has returned to the bosom of his family, the Cantelos, to attend the funeral of his beloved Aunt Clarissa. However, the Cantelos are less than thrilled to see Merlyn. Some of them are even accusing him of being an impostor who wants to get his hands on Clarissa's estate. Merlyn soon suspects that the Cantelo family is hiding something from him, and he intends to find out what it is--unless, of course, someone kills him first.
Robert Barnard's "The Graveyard Position" is a talky and occasionally amusing psychological mystery about a dysfunctional and mean-spirited family. Grandfather Cantelo, the patriarch, was a vicious and self-centered man who brought up his large brood to compete with one another. As a result, the Cantelo family is comprised of bitter and suspicious misfits rather than loving and cooperative relatives. When Merlyn gets to know the Cantelos, he finds them to be a repellant bunch. However, he needs to stick around long enough to prove that he is indeed Merlyn and to claim his rightful inheritance.
Most of this book consists of long-winded conversations between Merlyn and his family, the police, and people who knew the Cantelos over the years. In addition, Merlyn reminisces about his troubled childhood, and he does his own research into the Cantelo family history. Ultimately, he unearths an explosive secret that his family has been taking great pains to hide for many years. All of this adds up to an intermittently engrossing, but rather tame, novel, in which the author tries to be funny and serious at the same time. Barnard's story does provide valuable insight into the stresses that can tear families apart, and there are some genuinely funny moments here and there. However, the "The Graveyard Position" lacks the suspense and the satirical bite that has made Barnard so effective in the past.
Robert Barnard's "The Graveyard Position" is a talky and occasionally amusing psychological mystery about a dysfunctional and mean-spirited family. Grandfather Cantelo, the patriarch, was a vicious and self-centered man who brought up his large brood to compete with one another. As a result, the Cantelo family is comprised of bitter and suspicious misfits rather than loving and cooperative relatives. When Merlyn gets to know the Cantelos, he finds them to be a repellant bunch. However, he needs to stick around long enough to prove that he is indeed Merlyn and to claim his rightful inheritance.
Most of this book consists of long-winded conversations between Merlyn and his family, the police, and people who knew the Cantelos over the years. In addition, Merlyn reminisces about his troubled childhood, and he does his own research into the Cantelo family history. Ultimately, he unearths an explosive secret that his family has been taking great pains to hide for many years. All of this adds up to an intermittently engrossing, but rather tame, novel, in which the author tries to be funny and serious at the same time. Barnard's story does provide valuable insight into the stresses that can tear families apart, and there are some genuinely funny moments here and there. However, the "The Graveyard Position" lacks the suspense and the satirical bite that has made Barnard so effective in the past.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
The Best Robert Barnard Mystery yet.
6 Jun 2005
Format:Hardcover
I have read only a few of Barnard's mysteries and hadnt made
up my mind about him. "Graveyard Position" cinched it for me.
Merlyn Cantelo inherits his late aunt Clarissa,s money and
home. Clarissa was a clairvoyant and just happened to be
most likely the sanest member of the totally dysfunctional
Cantelo Family. Clarisse sent Merlyn away years ago as she
feared for his safety and now hearing of her death he returns
for her funeral and finds he still has to fear for his safety-
from his own family. I don't like many present day mysteries
having mainly preferred late 1800's and early 1900's mysteries-
best ever written but I am glad I decided to read this book.
Now I will have to go out and bring myself up on other
Barnard mysteries.
up my mind about him. "Graveyard Position" cinched it for me.
Merlyn Cantelo inherits his late aunt Clarissa,s money and
home. Clarissa was a clairvoyant and just happened to be
most likely the sanest member of the totally dysfunctional
Cantelo Family. Clarisse sent Merlyn away years ago as she
feared for his safety and now hearing of her death he returns
for her funeral and finds he still has to fear for his safety-
from his own family. I don't like many present day mysteries
having mainly preferred late 1800's and early 1900's mysteries-
best ever written but I am glad I decided to read this book.
Now I will have to go out and bring myself up on other
Barnard mysteries.
An odd little book...
4 Aug 2011
Format:Hardcover
When his beloved Aunt Clarissa dies, Merlyn Cantelo returns home after decades abroad to claim his inheritance. He's welcomed by his dysfunctional extended family with suspicion and acrimony, which is par for the course, really, for this family: historically the Cantelos have only united in purpose when that purpose was a malevolent one. Merlyn sets to digging up old scandals and consequently makes himself a target, which is something his prescient Aunt had in fact long worried about, the reason for his being sent abroad in the first place. The Graveyard Position is an odd little book with a number of problems. The conversations are implausible, and assumptions are jumped to without good reason--even if they do prove to be true. The degree to which the police get involved in Merlyn's predicament--even before a crime is committed--is surprising. A manuscript is discovered that could shed light on much of the Cantelo family's history, but that thread peters out after a while. What's so odd about the book, though, is its general tone. Although published just a handful of years ago, it reads like something from Agatha Christie's era. Only a few modern references suggest that it wasn't. Readable enough, but the more you think about it the more small problems you're likely to spot.
-- Debra Hamel
-- Debra Hamel
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