Deceptive Relations by
Annette Roome
hbk out March 99
Published by Collins Crime
at £15.99
Chris Martin is a forty-three year old reporter for the Tipping Herald. Tipping is a small, Home-Counties town with plenty of scope for gossip and scandal. The action begins with a body in a car; an apparent suicide and an approach to Chris from a woman called Janet Cox who wants her estranged husband locating. In addition to this, Janet implies that there are serious improprieties occurring with an eminent, local solicitor, Philip Chandler.
Janet is inconveniently murdered before Chris has assimilated any relevant information so, impulsively, she breaks into the murdered woman's flat. This causes a few problems with the police as vital evidence may have been tampered with. Initially, Janet's death is thought to be a road-rage incident but it emerges that it is a rather more brutal murder. This is one of those stories where everyone is linked to everyone else in however tenuous a way and the next of these to emerge is Janet's estranged husband and the 'suicide in the car' being former business colleagues.
Much of the action which follows centres upon Holly Cottage and a housing development called St Martin's Court where residents were bribed to leave several years ago. A suicide from 1976 becomes relevant to the developing action as does a Chef and his platonic wife who work in The Rudleigh Arms.
The prime suspect for Janet's murder is a young man called Daniel and he too appears inextricably linked to others in the story. Blackmail, bribery and corruption all rear up at various times.
The first few chapters of this book seemed to be going nowhere, but I suddenly became gripped and read the rest without stopping. Lots of information was revealed and the plot became compelling. A few nervous moments arise for Chris as the lives of both her and her family are endangered more than once. Chris is a likeable character who definitely has guts without being unbelievable. She is happily self-deprecating and comical.
I really enjoyed the latter two thirds of this book and would recommend readers to persevere. It gets better and better and the conclusions are certainly neither clichéd or predictable.
Deceptive Relations by
Annette Roome