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.
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.
