A new mystery featuring the complex and fascinating London policeman John Coffin finds Coffin investigating the apparently accidental deaths of two of his officers, deaths linked to a strange half-dead tree. By the author of A Coffin for Charley.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The notion of a "Second City" within London, an uneasy alliance of new money and old poverty set in the Docklands area, has proved a singularly effective one for Butler, whose copper John Coffin (last seen in A Coffin for Charley) has steadily risen through the ranks. Here, two of his policemen have died in apparent accidents. Coffin, suspicious, dispatches Phoebe Astley, a onetime paramour, to a clothing boutique suspected of laundering money, as part of an undercover operation. Then a charred body found near a strange tree seems to have belonged to the wife of one of Coffin's dead cops. But little is what it seems to be. Phoebe disappears and an unattached head (one item in a large body and body-part count) is sighted floating in the Thames. The frightened woman in charge of the store and the secretive pensioner who labors on artistic artifacts beneath the eerie tree are just two of the many odd souls who inhabit this brooding tale. Butler has fun teasing us with the identities of the dead, and Coffin's actress wife Stella Pinero, who manages to be both likable and thoroughly theatrical at the same time, adds some levity to these dark proceedings.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Gwendoline Butler writes under her own name and the pseudonym Jennie Melville. Educated at Haberdashers, she read history at Oxford, and later married Dr. Lionel Butler, Principal of Royal Holloway College. She has one daughter. She is a winner of the Crime Writers’ Association’s Silver Dagger Award. She was also selected as being one of the top two hundred crime writers in the world by The London Times. She lives in Surrey, England.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Coffin is back,
By CMBohn "cmb" (Orem, UT USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Coffin Tree (Paperback)
The Second City of London shimmers in the stultifying heat, and Commander John Coffin tries to maintain law and order in his sprawling bailiwick. His new hand-picked undercover unit--headed by an old flame--is trying to halt a violent money-laundering operation. Two of the investigating officers ar dead, "accidentally" it seems, but Coffin suspects murder. A bizarre fire yields another body, apparently the wife of one of the dead officers. Heat doesn't suit Coffin's Docklands--nor his personal life with his wife, mercurial actress Stella Pinero. But ironically, it is Stella's cool insight and Coffin's own instincts that lead him to a killer. Very enjoyable book, especially if you like books about British police.
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