After the Flood [Hardcover]

Peter Turnbull (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2002

"Hennessey and Yellich, as always, are a joy to watch in action" Booklist Yet again, floods have played havoc with the Yorkshire countryside and when one river changes its course, a corpse comes to light. When DCI George Hennessey and DC Yellich get to it they discover that its head has been severed from the body. Well, there could be a whole load of reasons for that. But as the case progresses, there doesn't seem to be a good reason for it at all. Steeped in the history, manners and countryside of the North of England, this is an investigation that leads from dental records to a reading group and from DNA to losing the appetite for a pub lunch. It is an unbelievably strange tale that Peter Turnbull tells unnervingly believably.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

When a Yorkshire farmer finds skeletal remains in one of his fields, the discovery launches one of the most bizarre cases of their careers for British detectives Hennessey and Yellich. The skeleton is that of a middle-aged woman, but the postmortem reveals that the head belongs to a different person than the rest of the corpse. Complicating the case even further is the fact that the skeleton has been buried for at least a decade. Hennessey and Yellich are more than willing to put in the plodding hard work required to solve the case, including interviewing still-grieving families and following up on even the most obscure clue. But it's the combination of uncanny deductive reasoning, imaginative leaps of logic, and a few lucky breaks that finally allow them to solve the strange case. Skillful plotting, well-drawn characters, and some unexpected twists make this fine police procedural a pleasurable and entertaining read. Emily Melton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Turnbull is a snappy, entertaining writer. This too-little-known British procedural series deserves a wider American audience"

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Severn House Publishers (January 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0727857452
• ISBN-13: 978-0727857453
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #851,960 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Good plot, boring characters, September 2, 2011

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Booker G "ultimate reader" - See all my reviews

This review is from: After the Flood (Severn House Large Print) (Hardcover)

Peter Turnbull's "After the Flood" has an absorbing plot while being a rather boring book in other aspects. The plot involves a body that is uncovered in a field when a river changes course and flood waters wash away the earth that covered it. The body has been buried for at least 12 years, which adds to the difficulty in finding the killer. The plot expands into unexpected areas as the book unfolds, keeping me interested to a mostly satisfying conclusion.

As for the characters, I find them bland. Detective Chief Inspector Hennessey, while a good man and good policeman, is dull. Sgt. Yellich is also very likeable, with his happy home life with a wife and mentally challenged son. But he also just doesn't add any pep to this crime-fighting pair. Hennessey's love interest medical examiner Louise D'Acre is a bit pompous and too constricted to enjoy. For some reason I don't take to these characters.

The writing is adequate in this book, but I have one complaint about the mechanism of solving the case--tracing the criminal through a book club. As the reader gets to know the killer, it seems hard to believe he was the kind of man to join such a club. There is no reason given why he did, and so to me it seems the book club was a poor choice as a means to get the main links for the case.