Tangled Web UK Review April 2003
Ask the Dead by
Joan Gomez
pbk out November 02
(PlaneTree)
at £8.95
Debut fiction by self-published octogenarian Dr Joan Gomez, Ask The Dead was the winner of Plane Tree’s 2001 Novel Competition. The story: part village mystery, part medical thriller, is narrated by Dr Sybil Verney , a sixty-something psychiatrist. Dr Vernay has recently moved to pretty Fittleshott village though she still works in Harley Street as a psychiatrist and shares rooms there with respected transplant surgeon Barrington-Browne. Barrington-Browne also runs the luxurious Glendales Clinic, near Fittleshott, which specialises in fertility treatment, kidney and eye services, geriatric care and runs a flourishing charity. In the process of getting to know her new neighbours and settling into the village, Dr Verney comes across unusual occurrences connected with Glendales: unexplained funerals very early in the morning and puzzling disappearances. Using her psychiatric skills , Dr Verney soon turns detective and uncovers a veritable hornets nest of crime.
Lively mystery in the classic tradition using the topic of modern medical wrongdoings. Sybil Verney is a pleasing sleuth, sharp witted, amusing and intelligent. Dr Gomez gives us a tongue in cheek look at village life and her own experience as a consultant psychiatrist stands her in good stead. An enjoyable read.
Manchester Evening News 4.1.03
(
Cath Staincliffe
author of the popular Sal Kilkenny mysteries set on the mean streets of Manchester)
New Books by Joan Gomez at Amazon.co.uk
Secondhand and Out of Print Books by Joan Gomez at Alibris.com
