All Roads Leadeth [Hardcover]

Peter Turnbull (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2003

The horizon doesn't always mark the end of the road. . . When Francis Armstrong moves into his fussily designed Victorian house in the heart of the Vale of York, his August stretches before him in a haze of leisurely house refurbishments. His decision to move a pile of rubble, however, brings DCI Hennessey and Sergeant Yellich springing to the scene at the double. The woman's skeleton they study alongside Louise D'Acre, the lovely pathologist, points the finger of blame firmly and soon all the roads of evidence are leading in one direction. But once that destination is reached, the road continues onwards beyond that point, to a doorstep that makes no attempt to conceal its horrific crimes, but brags of them.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Francis Armstrong has just bought a house in Yorkshire and is clearing the yard when he makes a grisly discovery: a human skull buried beneath a pile of rubble. The remains are identified as those of Muriel Bradbury, wife of the house's former owner. Mrs. Bradbury was reported missing nearly 20 years earlier, and although her husband was suspected of killing her, he was never charged. Shortly after his wife's disappearance, Bradbury married his young secretary, although the marriage didn't last. Yorkshire detectives Hennessy and Yellich take the case, but their initial certainty that Bradbury killed his wife evaporates when they learn that two other wives also disappeared shortly before their husbands took up with a woman whose description matches Bradbury's second wife, Sandra Picardie. The latest entry in Turnbull's popular series is one of the best yet and will please readers who like intelligent detectives and atmospheric British settings. Emily Melton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Peter Turnbull was born and raised in Yorkshire, England. He has had a variety of jobs--in a former incarnation he was a social worker for twenty-three years, an occupation he gave up to become a full-time writer. "Fear of Drowning" is his twelfth novel.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Severn House Publishers; World ed. edition (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0727859706
• ISBN-13: 978-0727859709
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,556,430 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Really nice guys finish first again in Turnbull's series, November 5, 2011

By 

Booker G "ultimate reader" - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Roads Leadeth (Severn House Large Print) (Hardcover)

"All Roads Leadeth" is a typical installment in Turnbull's Detective Chief Inspector Hennessey series. In other words, the plot is engaging while the main characters are flat and rather uninteresting. This time two murdered women and one missing woman indicate a serial killer, and one living and breathing woman appears on the scene in each instance to scoop up the recently widowed spouse and enjoy his money--until it is gone. This should be enough to keep DCI Hennessey and DS Yellich busy, but, in fact their investigation into the serial killer leads them to a major crime that is yet to take place.

While the plot keeps the reader interested, the main characters just seem like they do and say the same things from book to book in this series. They are wonderfully nice men, but they never seem to gain any new depth. Both Hennessey and Yellich have suffered disappointments and losses that have helped make them caring individuals, but the author trots out the same stories of these losses in the same way in each book. And that's it. There isn't anything new that happens to these men personally that creates new interest in them. Hennessey's relationship with the medical examiner drags on "warmly" (Turnbull's favorite word to describe interactions between just about everybody except the bad guys). Hennessey's boss calls him into the office for the same discussion about retirement in every book. Something needs to happen to shake up Yellich and Hennessey a bit. Maybe that will keep them from being cardboard cutouts.

Turnbull's writing is adequate in this book. He does best with his captiving description of the medieval part of the city of York--its walls and old buildings, making one want to run to the internet to learn more about the city.

4.0 out of 5 stars AN ENJOYABLE TRIP TO YORK, November 1, 2003

By 

charles falk (Novato, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: All Roads Leadeth (Hardcover)

ALL ROADS LEADETH is a well-written police procedural with an interesting plot involving interlocking crimes. DCI Hennessey and Sergeant Yellich of the York CID are called to examine a twenty-year-old skeleton found in a pile of rubble beside a country house undergoing renovation. This leads them into an investigation of other unsolved disappearances that in turn lead to a London villain who has a macabre way of punishing informers.

Peter Turnbull keeps the reader engrossed without resort to wholesale slaughter or reckless behavior by his sleuths. Instead he offers realistic characterization and solid police work mixed with fascinating tidbits about the old city of York. One learns about the lives of Hennessey and Yellich beyond their work. Turnbull even saves one small surprise for the very end.