Death Duty by
Clare Littleford
hbk out January 04
Published by Simon Schuster
at £17.99
This is the author's second novel and generally has the same feel
about it as the previous Beholden, being a low-key tale of a social
worker in Nottingham, which obviously Clare Littleford can
empathise with closely, having been in local government employ
there herself.
The heroine, Jo Elliott, is attacked in the street and is hit on the head
badly enough to need stitches. Although at first thought to be a
mugging, her wallet is found nearby and a different motive must be
sought - which could be revenge from one of the Metcalfes, a
problem family from the past.
One of the policemen who is sent to investigate the assault falls for
Jo, who has recently broken up from her partner Alex, another social
worker. Most of the other characters are also from the social
services, all smarting from an adverse official report on a failure to
protect a child. As usual with reviews of mysteries, little more can be
said of the plot without blowing it, but the style is restrained and to
be honest, the pace is very slow for the first third of the book when
nothing much seems to happen apart from the angst of the heroine
following the assault. Writing in the first person often seems to
restrict the action and after scores of pages of Jo mooning about in
self-pity, smoking 'spliffs' and drinking plonk, I felt like shaking her
and telling her to pull herself together! Maybe that was what the
author was aiming to do. Things livened up after that, but if it's an
action book rather than psychological insights that you're after, look
elsewhere. Very competently written, but dare I say it's a 'woman's
book' or is that not PC?
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
