I grew up in a house positively dripping with classic 'cosy' crime fiction. The Verity Birdwood mysteries became a library staple of mine during my childhood, although I'd completely forgotten about them for the last 20 years or so!

Jennifer Rowe, who published for children under the name Emily Rodda, was another mainstay. My family watched the TV series Murder Call, based on her characters; my brother read Deltora Quest; I bought every new Teen Power book (now known as The Raven Hill Mysteries) through the school book newsletter. Remarkable the effect one writer can have on a mind obsessed with narrative and forms of storytelling.

And yet, in spite of all this, Rowe's books are not easy to find these days. I suppose many of them were paperback releases to begin with, and - given they're "light reading" for the most part - weren't hoarded by secondhand book stores or treasured when people did their spring cleaning. So I'm especially glad to have reconnected with these cleverly-plotted mysteries, after all these years.

Grim Pickings takes place over a week in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, as family and friends descend upon the home of old Alice to help with the annual apple-picking from her small orchard. The uptight head of the family and her nebbish husband, the perpetually unsatisfied siblings, the timid daughter-in-law, a kindly neighbour, two visiting couples from the more intellectual end of town, a little girl with intentions of her own, and two unexpected guests: a scrappy TV researcher and a cocky lothario. The next morning, someone is dead, and everyone's a suspect.

Rowe has a lot fun with her plot mechanics, interweaving relationships and murky secrets, technical clues and competing timelines. Her playful use of point-of-view helps contribute to a mostly closed-world in which everyone legitimately seems like a suspect. Other reviewers have compared her to Christie and, for once, I think the comparison is apt. These books are smart and engaging.

It does strike me how very "20th century" this novel is. Rowe can make use of modern conveniences and fast-paced living while being freed from our ultra-surveillance culture. Characters can disappear, whether casually for 20 minutes or deliberately for 12 hours, and no questions are asked. It allows both the police and our up-and-coming civilian detective to pursue their leads without undue reliance of technology. (Perhaps this is why so many readers - myself included - remain glued to the 'cosy' format.)

If there's one annoyance about these books, it's an issue of genre: the dialogue, at times, is relentlessly "crime fiction". People are obliged to talk in paragraphs without their interlocutor interrupting (all the better to hide discreet clues) and are prone to giving a lot of information in a sometimes formal way. It's rather delightful to hear characters speak in full sentences, but can sometimes be overwhelming. Still, that's not really a flaw - it's just a part of the show.

I enjoyed playing detective with Jennifer Rowe again, and will be scrounging through the following volumes throughout 2020. She's scrupulously fair with the reader but also constantly deceptive. Caveat lector, and all that. ( )

A classic, Christie-style house-party whodunnit which I thoroughly enjoyed ( )