1994 detective fiction; seventh of Cleeves's novels of amateur private
detectives George and Molly Palmer-Jones. Jimmy Morrissey was the
public voice of environmentalism and conservation, but killed himself
with an overdose of antidepressants. Or did he?
It's well worth reading this after Another Man's Poison: then
George and Molly were competing with each other and messing up the
investigation as a result, but now they are working hard on
collaborating, and do a rather better job. It's a well-drawn picture
of people who've been married for years discovering new things about
their relationship.
That's effectively mixed with the actual investigation. George and
Molly are brought in by Morrissey's widow, his second wife, who writes
articles about being the Perfect Mother and is probably the nastiest
person in the book (though she has competition); she's not willing to
accept that it was suicide. There's plenty of digging into the past:
Morrissey's draft autobiography has vanished, and it slowly becomes
apparent that he was planning to make rather more of an impact with it
than anyone might have expected. There's an ex-wife about, and a
textile company that surely wouldn't be mentioned if it weren't going
to matter, and Jimmy's known reputations for philandering and
self-aggrandisement.
The plot structure and pacing are a little odd, though I can't go into
details without giving things away. There's not much about means and
opportunities, though they're mentioned a little; this is more a story
of motivation, and one's trying to work out who would have wanted to
kill Jimmy rather than who could have.
A slightly unconventional book, but not hurt thereby. Followed by
High Island Blues.
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