Roy Lewis - Suddenly as a Shadow
HarperCollins £14.99
The title comes from a quotation - "The end of all is death and man's life passeth away suddenly as a shadow" - from The Imitation of Life by Thomas a Kempis, It is particularly apt as the novel opens with a prologue describing a murder committed in Prague by a professional hitman. Roy Lewis often starts with a scene of violence or the promise of violence and then moves on to the ordinary, even mundane, world of his hero whether Eric Ward or, as here, Arnold Landon. This is the tenth Arnold Landon mystery.
Arnold works in the Department of Museums and Antiquities. He is a pleasant young man, very good at his ,job, though his superiors in the Department seem unaware of his abilities. The Director, Simon Brent-Ellis, likes to spend as much of his time as possible on the golf course content to leave the running of the Department to his Assistant the beautiful Karen Stannard who seems to bear a grudge against Arnold.
After the violent opening the build up is slow but absorbing as Arnold immerses himself in the oversight of the various archaeological sites which he is responsible for, in particular the one at Ravenstone Fell where a business and leisure complex is being built on an ancient burial ground. There are allegations of corruption in the bid to secure the development contract and the instigator of these claims, the controversial Cate Nicholas, is murdered. The information supporting her allegations comes from a confidential report prepared by Arnold for Karen Stannard who is a close friend of Nicholas. Stannard does not wittingly pass on the information to Nicholas and is understandably aggrieved when Nicholas goes public on television. Arnold thus becomes an unwilling participant in these events and life is made very difficult for him, particularly by Karen Stannard who appears to blame him for what has happened. It is only later that she comes to appreciate Arnold's worth, by which time he is exposed to real danger, as the hero always is in a Roy Lewis mystery. The connection with the murder in the prologue, which seems unrelated to Ravenstone Fell, is resolved et the same time and the villain is unmasked.
There is one minor irritating point. Detective Chief Inspector Culpepper continually refers to Arnold as "bonny lad" and the odious Jerry Picton twice uses the expression as well. It seems artificial. Apart from that the book is a very pleasant read which is only what we have come to expect from Roy Lewis.
JOHN BOYLES
