Oxford Letters by
Veronica Stallwood
hbk out September 05
Published by Headline
at £18.99
It is always a pleasure to receive another of Ms Stallwood's 'Oxford'
novels, as one is always assured of an excellent read. Once more, her
writer heroine Kate Ivory is on the trail, this time because she suspects
that her mother Roz, a mature hippy with an eccentric lifestyle, is being
cleverly conned by an apparently charming pair. The Freemans, a
seemingly affluent married couple, meet Roz in an estate agent's office
and before long have the key to her house and are taking over her life,
forcing alternative medicine upon her when she is obviously unwell.
At the same time, unknown to Kate, her mother has been having sinister
letters from abroad, warning her of perils hanging over her and squeezing
thousands of pounds from her. Kate begins investigating the Freemans
and as more disturbing facts emerge, she herself is threatened. The author
seems keen on these tales of con-artists preying on people, as one of her
previous novels concerned those who rummage through garbage to find
documents that can be used for nefarious purposes.
As always with the Oxford books, the writing is superb and has that edge-
of-the-seat quality which makes you want to keep on reading – just
another page, so have another cup of coffee to postpone the moment
when you have to put it down!
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
Oxford Letters by
Veronica Stallwood
