Publ: 1992
My own copy
ISBN: 0 75284 931 X
Genre: Crime
Pages: 220p
Found by Serendipity
Rating: ***** ***
What led you to pick up this book?
Found by Serendipity in charity shop - had read and enjoyed another Wycliffe novel.
Describe the plot without giving anything away.
A quiet Cornish village is shaken by a bizarre murder in the church. Chief Superintendent Wycliffe arrives to supervise the investigation but does not solve the crime in time to prevent further outrage from being committed. And what had a sixteen year old unsolved hit-and-run to do with the murder?
What did you think of the characters?
Wycliffe is a good old-fashioned policeman and the characters in the plots are usually fairly predictable. Nevertheless, that helps to make the books comfy reading.
What did you think about the style?
There is an old-fashioned feel to the style of Burley's crime fiction. Never gruesome and an olde-worlde feel to locations and characters. The intricacies of Burley's plots are not too great but skilful enough to make guessing the villain or villains difficult. Ideal cosy crime reading.
What did you like most about the book?
The steady, comfy feeling that escapist fiction like this gives you. Not too much effort is involved but enough to sustain the interest and make the reading enjoyable.
Was there anything you didn't like about the book?
No.
Thoughts on the book jacket / cover.
The cover, designed by Nick Castle, includes a rather good photo by Richard Jenkins.
Would I recommend it?
Yes.
Quotations:
Bt that was logic and she had never found much consolation in logic.
Perhaps books, even on shelves, have a civilising influence. What sort of deviant feels belligerent in a library? (By Jove, I could tell you lots of stories about belligerence in libraries, as could any librarian or ex-librarian.)
But this was a good place. Perhaps a place to die in. Death, he imagined, might come easily, unnoticed, stealing like a mist up the river.
W J Burley - see 'Wycliffe and Death in Stanley Street '
February
4 years ago