Cruel As The Grave by
Meg Elizabeth Atkins
pbk out August 98
(Flambard Press)
at £6.99
English crime fiction has its roots in the village mystery. Though village
life has changed beyond recognition since the genteel days of Miss Marple
in St Mary Mead, human nature remains the same, as Meg Elizabeth Atkins
reveals in this deceptively civilised novel of modern manners.
Hambling is a village out of Cheshire Life, where passion is a
word applied to fruit and a lack of social graces the greatest crime of
all. When the body of an unknown woman -- who is definitely not 'one of
us' -- is found floating in the river, the first reaction is that murder
can't have had anything to do with anybody local.
But soon the finger starts to point at bumbling Reggie Willoughby. Stung by
the unfairness of this, his adopted niece Liz Farrell determines to clear
his name. When Reggie's body is found, an apparent suicide, this simply
strengthens her resolve, much to the discomfort of DCI Sheldon Hunter, who
finds himself more attracted to Liz than to her theories.
Soon, the ripples beneath the surface of Hambling's polite society are
widening into chasms and Liz finds herself confronting unpleasant truths
and uncomfortable realisations before she finally understands the depths to
which respectability pushes people. This is a book that demonstrates
traditional crime writing is alive and well.
(
Val McDermid
- Gold Dagger winner & creator of Lindsay Gordon, Kate Brannigan & Tony Hill)
Cruel As The Grave by
Meg Elizabeth Atkins