By the author of A PERFECT MATCH, a crime novel featuring Chief Inspector Lloyd and Inspector Judy Hill. When a former prostitute married to a wealthy criminal and a struggling artist married to a Conservative party candidate are both found murdered, Lloyd and Hill find that a telephone conversation is the key to the victims' connection.
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From Publishers Weekly
In this latest Inspector Lloyd/Inspector Judy Hill case (after Murder Movie ) the single exciting character is Lennie Austin, a gifted, free-spirited artist. Unfortunately, her head is bashed in early on and the reader is left with duller folk--the cohabiting inspectors, their detective sergeants, one big-time crook, one small-time ex-con, an engineer, his pregnant wife, an additional homicide victim, and Lennie's husband, a wealthy Conservative Party candidate for Parliament. An excellent, intricate plot goes down the drain here because multiple viewpoints and rapid scene shifts are unnecessarily confusing, especially in the beginning, when characters not only lie a lot but also think evasive, ambiguous thoughts. Interest does quicken as the investigation unfolds, but by then many readers may have jumped ship.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Kirkus Reviews
Dual murders for Detective Chief Inspector Lloyd of the Stansfield CID and girlfriend Judy Hill (Murder at the Old Vicarage, etc.) in the nearby Malworth district. Lennie Austin, a friend of Judy's who's married to politically ambitious Jonathan, is found bludgeoned to death in their apartment. Hours later, a few miles away, Rosemary Beale, wife of rich, in-the-rackets Frank Beale, is found strangled in their plush, security-tight apartment. The Beales' neighbors are Gordon Pearce and his pregnant wife Pauline. Pearce's failing engineering firm had been rescued by Austin's business acumen, but Rosemary, a new member of the board of Austin-Pearce, was pushing to get Pearce out. Rosemary's chauffeur Steve Tasker, hired by her husband, was a past lover of Lennie Austin's and was trying to relight those old fires on the night she died. Wheels within wheels as Lloyd, his overanxious new Sergeant Mickey Drake, and Judy try to make sense of it, talking ceaselessly like everyone else (plus inner voices) in this overstuffed, overwritten story. The solution, when it finally arrives, is clever and surprising; getting there is verbose, confusing, and a touch pretentious. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By A Customer
I really enjoyed reading this book. Jill McGown's characters are simply unique. Contrary to many other successful women crime writers, her main characters are portrayed as down to earth persons, who do not have fancy jobs or hobbies. They have their bad days and their good ones, can be agressive or unreasonable - and that's what makes them so human. Chief Inspector Lloyd ( no firstnames, please) and Inspector Judy Hill are a most unlikely couple and sometimes hillariously funny. In addition, you really will want to know who did it and this is extremely hard to guess. I would recommend this book to everyone who likes British characters.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars
4 reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
unique characters and intelligent story
Oct 13 1999
By A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com
I really enjoyed reading this book. Jill McGown's characters are simply unique. Contrary to many other successful women crime writers, her main characters are portrayed as down to earth persons, who do not have fancy jobs or hobbies. They have their bad days and their good ones, can be agressive or unreasonable - and that's what makes them so human. Chief Inspector Lloyd ( no firstnames, please) and Inspector Judy Hill are a most unlikely couple and sometimes hillariously funny. In addition, you really will want to know who did it and this is extremely hard to guess. I would recommend this book to everyone who likes British characters.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is one of the best plotted mysteries I've read in a while
April 3 2006
By M. C. Crammer
- Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase
I was stunned by the "whodunit" ending -- it came out of left field and yet it was all there in front of me and I had missed it. I read a lot of mysteries and can often guess the culprit but although there was a little bit that I was right about, most of it I just missed.
The plot is complex but not so complex that you can't follow it, in part because there are a limited number of characters. Two murders of well-heeled women take place in the same area (neighboring towns in England) on the same night -- and the two victims (who don't know each other) have been talking on the phone that night. Police Detective Inspector Lloyd is heading up the investigation of the first murder discovered -- a talented artist who has married for money -- and his live-in girlfriend Judy Hill, who has recently transferred to a new jurisdiction because of their relationship, is heading up the other murder -- a woman with a streetwalking past who is married to a man known to have a history of very shady business activities.
Did the same person kill them both? How are the killings related (if they are)? What was the motive or motives? This is a cozy in the sense that the list of suspects is reasonably short (spouses, boyfriends, etc.) and it's a question of puzzling out what happened that night -- talking to witnesses, recreating the night, etc.
This is my first by this British author but I intend to read more.
The plot is complex but not so complex that you can't follow it, in part because there are a limited number of characters. Two murders of well-heeled women take place in the same area (neighboring towns in England) on the same night -- and the two victims (who don't know each other) have been talking on the phone that night. Police Detective Inspector Lloyd is heading up the investigation of the first murder discovered -- a talented artist who has married for money -- and his live-in girlfriend Judy Hill, who has recently transferred to a new jurisdiction because of their relationship, is heading up the other murder -- a woman with a streetwalking past who is married to a man known to have a history of very shady business activities.
Did the same person kill them both? How are the killings related (if they are)? What was the motive or motives? This is a cozy in the sense that the list of suspects is reasonably short (spouses, boyfriends, etc.) and it's a question of puzzling out what happened that night -- talking to witnesses, recreating the night, etc.
This is my first by this British author but I intend to read more.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Forget the reviews in Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews above
Jan 22 2012
By Reader in New York
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
The plotting in this book is absolutely outstanding. When the solutions come at the end, they are based -- as the Inspector puts it -- not on any new information but on information that they had all along.
All the hints are there and open for the reader to see. When the Inspector explains all, the reader is left to kick himself for not having caught all (or even any) of the clues.
Fair is fair, and this is one of the best.
All the hints are there and open for the reader to see. When the Inspector explains all, the reader is left to kick himself for not having caught all (or even any) of the clues.
Fair is fair, and this is one of the best.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
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