Oxford Knot by
Veronica Stallwood
pbk out September 98
(Headline)
at £5.99
Kate Ivory is a writer of historical romances whose house in Oxford is vibrant with her extended ""family"": Paul, her man friend; Andrew, a friend who likes to ""pop"" in and cook for them; and Harley, the eleven year old child of a neighbour, who finds Kate's house a haven from his own troubled house. There are also Kate's cat, Susannah, and Harley's dog, Dave.
Kate is asked by her publisher to undertake at short notice a book-signing tour of bookshops and just before she embarks she receives a gift of a curious knot ring which has no covering note. The tour is only moderately successful because Kate is accompanied by a flamboyant author called Devlin Hayle. He is famous as ""The Man who Understands a Woman's Heart"" and is the author of a series of bodice-rippers, He is, in the words of the blurb, ""foul-mouthed, drunken, lecherous and charming"" and is very nearly a caricature, He is involved with a number of shady characters who appear to be following him and turn up at unfortunate moments and cause mayhem. During the tour Andrew is murdered in Kate's house in Oxford and Devlin is twice saved by Kate from an early death. But Kate gradually comes to realise that the unknown assailant is more interested in her than in Andrew or Devlin.
This is one of those crime novels in which the protagonist is not a detective but is nevertheless caught up in a criminal investigation either as a victim or interested observer, as in the novels of John Malcolm and Roy Lewis. There is a police presence, but it is only fleeting and Kate, realising that she is a potential victim, must use her instincts and common sense to stay out of danger. She is aware that the knot ring is somehow at the bottom of the mystery, but is not able to appreciate its significance until it is almost too late.
The title Oxford Knot suggests that this is another Oxford crime novel to add to the number of Oxford-based novels of the recent past (by Butler, Levi, Dexter, Fraser and others) and indeed it is, though much of the action takes place on the tour circuit. But this is the fifth of the author's six books to have ""Oxford"" in the title. It is well-written and makes compulsive reading and Kate is a very attractive heroine, but the ending is, to me, something of a disappointment.
Oxford Knot by
Veronica Stallwood