ORDERS TO KILL Edward Marston (Allison & Busby £19.99)
ORDERS TO KILL
by Edward Marston (Allison & Busby £19.99)
As World War I begins, a dedicated Army surgeon is brutally murdered. He was loved by his patients and respected by his colleagues.
In the absence suspects or motives, Inspector Harvey Marmion must make sense of the seemingly inexplicable.
Delving into the victim’s background, a double or even a triple life begins to emerge. The doctor was generous in his favors to women in need. Could it have been a revenge killing?
Marmion discovers a pattern when similar cases are revealed. This leads him to the Western Front pitched battles in search for the truth.
Taking in a subplot involving Marmion’s son, a mentally damaged war veteran who has gone missing, the story moves along at a cracking pace. Edward Marston is a master of what he does.
DEATH THREATS and OTHER STORIES Georges Simenon (Penguin Classics £8.99)
DEATH THREATS AND OTHER STORIES
by Georges Simenon (Penguin Classics £8.99)
With first-class new translations of all the Maigret novels now to hand, it is the short stories’ turn to be upgraded. Death Threats finds Maigret at the end of his distinguished career, looking forward to retirement. Although his deductive abilities are still highly sought after, Maigret is reluctant to take a vacation to investigate the death of a hotel guest who was found dead in his bath. His patience pays off by simply waiting and watching.
Closer to home, the unsolved murder of a cafe crony begs the question: Was it suicide? Maigret knows what the answer is, but he also understands that deception will do more harm than good. Although Maigret’s moral quandary could have been a lengthy novel, the substance is compressed to a few pages.
DEAD WEDDING GUEST Anne Morice (Dean Street Press £10.99)
DEATH OF A WEDDING GUEST
by Anne Morice (Dean Street Press £10.99)
When the mother of the bride drinks weed killer, a society wedding can descend into chaos. This woman was not without enemies. However, there is suspicion that the poison might have been intended to be consumed by one of the other guests.
Tessa Crichton leads the search for a resolution to the mystery. She is a rising star on stage and screen, whose amateur sleuthing is the despairing husband of her policeman.
Anne Morice is light-hearted with acerbic asides about the pretenses of the leisured, but the story is light-hearted. Her heroine must do a merry dance to uncover the killer. This could not be bettered for soft-centred crime.
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