From Booklist
Normally, outdoor enthusiast Wallace James runs a sporting-goods shop, but since suffering a heart attack, he's confined to his easy chair, where his most vigorous activities include watching the town square and listening to his CB radio. When Wallace overhears a mysterious snippet of conversation on his CB alluding to blackmail, he figures he's on to something. Was much-despised estate owner Ken Berry's drowning death not the accident it appeared? And was the kiss of life administered to Berry by his archenemy, Colonel McInsch, intended, not to save the victim, but to hasten his death? Piecing together the evidence, Wallace eventually learns the sad and surprising truth about the two men. Set in Scotland and featuring his trademark sporting focus, Hammond's latest offers a solid, no-frills plot, a relaxed, understated writing style, a dollop of dry wit, and a cast of engaging characters. An excellent choice for those who like a no-nonsense, straightforward mystery.
Emily Melton
From Kirkus Reviews
It looks as if Wallace James's heart attack will sideline him not only from shooting and fishing but from nosing around into the drowning of Newton Lauder squire Kenneth Berry, who was evidently nearly saved by his archenemy, Colonel Ivor McInsch, MP. But while Wallace is tying flies and bemoaning his inactivity, he happens to overhear a conversation that strongly suggests the colonel is being blackmailed (for perjury? for murder? for some more benign lapse of judgment?). Aided by his formidable wife Janet, who's worth a book of her own, Wallace pulls as gently as any of Hammond's Highlands heroes (Mad Dogs and Scotsmen, 1996, etc.) at the thread that will unravel a tangled criminal skein. This time, though, the skein's a little too tangled, and the unraveling a little too muddled--though housebound Wallace is certainly one of Hammond's liveliest narrators. --
Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
