REVIEW
Andrew Taylor "The Mortal Sickness"
NEL £5.99
Jill Francis, a young journalist, discovers a body in St. John's church whilst she is doing research for an article about the valuable Lydmouth chalice which is kept there. But it is there no longer, disappeared at the same time as poor Miss Kymin lost her life. So, Jill is involved from the beginning, and becomes more so as the police arrive and she has to contend with her mixed feelings for Inspector Richard Thornhill and the inconsistent way he acts towards her. She follows up her own hunches about the murder, gets in the way, discovers who is sending the poison pen letters to the vicar, gets in the way even more and eventually gets a nasty bump on the head which puts her out of the action for a while. Thornhill can't help himself and visits her in hospital. His subordinates practise the art of motive analysis and, as Detective Constable Wilson says to Sergeant Kirby, 'Maybe Thornhill's sweet on her. Wants to see her in her negligee.' Not much 'Maybe' about it I would have thought, but Thornhill continues on his tortured, confused way not knowing what he really wants. He certainly could have done with a course in " Advanced Motive" to solve this case, if not his love life; everyone, from the vicar's wife right down to the teenager, Jean, whose mother owns the house where Kirby lodges, has some kind of secret. Kirby himself becomes more involved than he realises when he allows the young and beautiful (but bad) heiress Jemima Orepool to work her charms on him. The case eventually solves itself as facts come to light, feelings come out into the open and true colours are shown. The characters act in character and not just for the convenience of plot development, which is a tribute to the skill of Mr Taylor. The period setting is well-done although I did get a little annoyed by continual references to things happening "since the war " which tended to interrupt the flow and were unnecessary, the authors attention to detail being enough to place the story for the reader.
I look forward to the next Lydmouth mystery, and suspect that Inspector Thornhill and Jill Francis will have to be thrown together a great deal more before matters develop sufficiently to bring about a satisfactory outcome to this particular case. (A.C.)