REVIEW
Elizabeth Ferrars The Lying Voices
Corgi Original pbk (0 552 14389 8) £5.99
On his return to England after 6 years abroad, Justin Emery contacts his old friend Grace DeLong and arrives at her home in Fallow Corner just in time to solve the mystery of the murder of local furniture designer Arnold Thaine.
The clues include a girl in a red coat, a dog, a room full of clocks all telling the wrong time, and the eye-witness account of a bed-ridden old man. Everyone involved seems to be lying, for reasons of their own, like the clocks keeping their own time, and Justin must try to uncover what those reasons are before he can get to the truth. The fact that he has a First in philosophy must be of some help although he often seems to rely on intuition rather than logic, helped in his efforts by Detective Inspector Turkis who almost falls over himself to provide Justin with privileged information and warn him when things are looking bleak for Grace.
Plot and psychology are the strengths of this novel and, although the ending seems to turn the notion of motive on its head, it is, in fact, extremely well-crafted. All the characters come under suspicion at one time or another, the complex web of relationships that the author has drawn giving them all reason for wanting Arnold Thaine dead. Ms Ferrars leads us up several garden paths but there is no doubt that she knows exactly where she is going even if we do not. A second reading of the book revealed several clues which I kicked myself for missing the first time and was worthwhile to see just how clever the author had been without my even knowing it.
I thoroughly enjoyed Lying Voices and hope to be reading more of Ms. Ferrars soon. (A.J.C.)