Happy St. David’s Day!

I must spend it packing; for those of you with reading time, I highly recommend Ann Cleeves’s Murder in My Backyard, which is part of her terrific Inspector Ramsay series.

From her website:

“No one in Heppleburn has a bad word to say about Alice Parry… but here she is, murdered in her own backyard on a bitter St. David’s Eve.

When detective Stephen Ramsay starts asking questions in the village, a more ambiguous picture begins to emerge. Yes, old Mrs. Parry was loved by everyone, but sometimes her kindness had caused trouble. Yes, her two nephews were devoted to her, but they didn’t really want her interfering in their rather complicated personal lives. Even among her neighbours, Alice Parry’s helpfulness had sometimes misfired; and after her death, tension tight as a clenched fist grips the uneasy village.

Meanwhile, the suspects keep rolling in, and Heppleburn’s friendly neighbourhood killer continues his nasty piece of work…”

It’s a bit reminiscent of early Louise Penny.

For other Welsh-themed crime fiction, try this list.

I’m singling out, from it, Belinda Bauer’s award-winning Rubbernecker, which features a protagonist who is on the autism spectrum.

Alas, I have no photos of Wales to share, having not yet visited. A photo of Welsh Rarebit doesn’t seem quite the thing, either (although I have several on hand, made with cheeses ranging from authentically Welsh cheddars and Vancouver Island caerphilly to the extremely French and Swiss).

Victoria friends: I recommend wandering downtown to Bartholomew’s pub, where they make a lovely Irish rarebit for St. Patrick’s week, which is looming (because an extended celebration takes place, the better to sample the whiskeys). It’s not on their event calendar, but I suspect they have one or two Welsh specialties on hand, plus their usual Sunday roast beef dinner.

And our local paper’s food writer, Eric Akis, obligingly provided a Welsh Rarebit recipe a few years back.