Practise to Deceive by
David Williams
hbk out August 03
Published by Allison Busby
at £17.99
The sixth in the Inspector Parry series, though David Williams has a much
longer pedigree in his Mark Treasure mysteries.
Detective Inspector Merlin Parry and his henchman Sergeant Gomer Lloyd,
are this time embroiled in a murder in a private neurological clinic in South
Wales, run by a Dr Edwin Howell and his wife, both eminent physicians.
The jealously-guarded reputation of the Howell clinic is threatened by the
death of one of their male attendants, Kevin Rees, who was found in the
grounds with a sharp bulb-planter thrust through his chest. The immediate
suspect is the gardener, Phil Collit, who had a row with the deceased in a
pub the previous night, as Kevin had refused to pay up their lottery
winnings.
The story is complicated by the discovery that one of the patients, a rich
industrialist recovering from a severe stroke, may have been blackmailed by
Kevin Rees. His wife, desperate to avoid any scandal which might sink the
promised knighthood later that year, does all she can to cover up their
problems and Merlin Rees has to travel to London and Chepstow in his
search for evidence - which suits him well, as his girl-friend, Perdita, is
studying medicine in London.
The story eventually reaches a satisfactory ending, with Merlin bending the
rules a little in the cause of compassion. A good, straightforward who-
dunnit, though of course the reviewer has to declare a biased interest, as the
most of the action takes place in and around his home city of Cardiff, which
again emphasises the fact that readers love to be able to recognise locations
and associate themselves with familiar places.
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
Practise to Deceive by
David Williams
