1998 mystery; fourth of Cutler's novels of Sophie Rivers, a teacher in
a sixth-form college in Birmingham. Sophie's cousin Andy is a rock
legend, planning to retire and devote himself to good causes; but it
seems that someone wants him dead.
Though this time Sophie's much more of a spectator than she has
been before; she does some investigation on her own, and deals with
some of the minor matters, but the real mystery is left to others to
resolve. There's rather too much coincidence, and one of my less
favourite answers to "why would anyone do this".
But the mystery is more than ever an excuse to write about Sophie and
the high-pressure life she's found herself in (here she's often unable
even to get to lunch thanks to meetings and other unscheduled work).
Indeed, I found Cutler's grip on the main story just a little loose
for my taste; all right, Sophie's an interesting person to read about,
but this is meant to be a murder mystery too.
As I consider earlier books in the series, I see things that worked
well there repeated here: the cast of secondary characters who feel
like real people, and who manage to avoid being entirely good or
entirely bad; the multicultural aspects of modern Birmingham; the
multiple concurrent plots, of which some will never be completely
resolved because that's what life is like.
But nobody is Dying for Millions here; indeed, Andy's wealth barely
seems relevant to the story. There's perhaps a bit too much going on,
with Sophie supervising work placements, lecturing, singing, putting
up her cousin, and trying to solve the murder, and it would have
been nice to see some more of the previous books' characters returning
(Sophie is curiously lacking in female friends). Overall it still
works pretty well, though.
Followed by Dying for Power.
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