(From Richard Robinson)
Deathtrap by Peter Turnbull, Severn House 2000 hardcover, mystery, police procedural. 2nd in the Hennessey and Yellich series, set in York, England.
review from Kirkus Reviews:
“Yet another of the author’s absorbing procedurals, this time set
in the city of York, where Detective Chief Inspector George Hennessey
presides over the Micklegate Bar Police Station when local retiree John
Smith, taking his usual walk on the edge of the Whickham Great Wood,
comes across the body of freelance reporter Cornelius Weekes, an
apparent suicide, in a closed, fume-filled car. When a painstaking
autopsy by Hennessey’s close friend Dr. Louise D’Acre proves the death
to be murder, Hennessey begins an exploration of Weekes’s recent
movements. He soon links the case to the death 18 years ago of Donald
Round, another reporter. Both men, Hennessey learns, had been examining
the case of Melanie Clifford, imprisoned for the murder of her long-time
lover Toby Erickson’s wealthy wife Charlotte. It’s soon clear to
Hennessey that John Cross, the long-retired police detective who first
headed the Erickson investigation, had deliberately ignored evidence in
Melanie’s favor. Now, 18 years later, Hennessey and sidekick Detective
Sergeant Yellich are convinced of Melanie’s innocence and set out to
prove it.”
After reading a review of one of the books in this series — don’t recall where just now — I went looking and found an ex-lib copy, which I read just last week. I really enjoyed it, especially the characters. I’ll be looking for more of this series.
10 comments:
This sounds like a good 'un, Patti. And I have to admit, I've not read Turnbull before. Sounds as though I ought to explore this series!
I've read about half of them. They follow a pattern - certain things happen in every one of the books - but still manage to be different, hold your interest (if you like procedurals), and solve an often absorbing mystery in little more than 200 pages. I know I still have a bunch of them on the shelf waiting to be read (I bought a bunch of ex-library editions at one point, all quite reasonably, online).
And yes, the "dog walker who finds the dead body in the woods" trope is one that is repeated in several of the books in the series.
I have read only a couple of Turnbull's books before and really enjoyed them.
I have read as many of Rick's blog posts, reviews, and comments that I could find and really miss them.
I'll have to track down a copy of Peter Turnbull's work. Who doesn't like a good police procedural!
I love a good procedural. And I too miss Rick. Randy Johnson and he went too suddenly. At least we were prepared with Ed and Bill and Ron's. Which is worse-I don't know. And then there was Sandra Seamans, which was very sudden. She didn't do FFB but was on my blog all the time. She never recovered from her husband's death.
I think that was the issue with Bill too. After seven years of worry about Judy he was worn out, mentally as well as physically. At least that's my opinion.
One other thing I like about these books: I am very familiar with the city of York, as we used to go there regularly to buy books (there were at least half a dozen places to buy books) and as a convenient halfway point on the way from London to Edinburgh. It is a compact city surrounded by walls dating to the Romans, which you can walk on to get around the city and avoid the traffic. In several of the books, Hennessey goes out for lunch and walks along the top of the wall, then takes teh staircase down to a favorite pub. This is the eact walk we used to take to get around in York!
Also, York had one of our favorite Indian restaurants, Rise of the Raj.
We went to York multiple times when we lived in England and took our visitors there. It perfectly fulfilled their expectations. And I am pretty sure we ate at that restaurant. Was it a bit elegant? Or maybe that was one in Edinburgh.
It could have been. It was pretty nice.
York also has the Jorvik Viking Centre, the Castle Museum, York Minster, plenty of old winding and narrow streets (The Shambles), plus a place Jackie loved where instead of the usual roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, you got a HUGE pudding that was as big as the plate, with meat and potatoes on/in it.
It had the best wall of the ones we saw.
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