The Point of Murder [Paperback]

Margaret Yorke ,while an English woman who writes crime novels ,should not really be bracketed with the so called Golden Age writers like Christie or Allingham .She is less interested than such writers in creating classic whodunnits ,and instead looks at the deceptive reality that lies behind the peaceful outward apearance of things .The Point of Murder-originally published in the US as The Come on -illustrates this neatly .There is no secret as to the identity of the killer ;the murder is described and the book ,on the action level is really the tale of two separate hunts .One is the police hunt for the killer and the other is the tracking by the killer of potential witnesses and his attempts to eliminate them .
The novel opens with two sharp pen portraits .Kate Wilson is a middle aged spinster looking after her venomous and deeply selfish mother who is nowhere near as ill as she pretends and compenstaes for her deep disappointment with life by treating her daughter like a skivvy ,one constantly at her beck and call .But Kate has a secret -at regular intervals ,feigning visits to a friend who is in the know ,she vanishes for weekends at a small hotel in the countryside where she has assignations with Doctor Stern a partner in the medical practice where she works as an administrator .One time she comes across a woman,Sandra King .who is struggling to change a puntured trye on her car .She is unable to be much help but a passing encylopedia sal;esman ,Gary Browne ,comes to the rescue .
Gary is a plausible young man who thinks women are fair game for his charms and he follows Sandra home and kills her when she resists his increasingly forceful attempts to get her into bed .
He remembers Kate as a witness and also that she had mentioned the hotel where she was staying ,under the name Mrs Havant ,and he feels he must find and kill her to eliminate a witness able to connect him to the dead Sandra
The trail takes him eventually to Kate and he takes her prisoner with the aim if killing her ;meanwhile the police are on his trail.
The book is as much character study as police procedural or crime novel ;Gary is an opportunist ,a man whose several jobs bespeak a footloose man with grandiose ambitions he is not dynmaic or clever enough to transform into reality ,not evil; just predatory . He is a man who sees no reason why he should not have what he wants ,simply because he wants it and rationalises his attack on Sandra on the grounds that she was " asking for it " Kate is a resourceful woman ,clear thinking and realistic ,able to take care of herself in an emergency
The book is also a study in hypocrisy -beneath the facade of middle class British life sexual secrets and snobbery abound and there is no real sense from the book that justice will be done .Browne may well escape lightly ,it is hinted ,and Kate a relatively blameless figure ,sees her vestiges of happiness threatened by events over which she has no real control

The prose is uncluttered and clear .The characterisation is diamond bright .The police work is accurately shown if undramatic
Lovers of the crime novel may feel happier with books where the stress is on detection rather than the consequences of criminal acts but overall this is a well written book that will appeal to those who like UK crim novelists,such as Rendell and James where detection is secondary to social analysis

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