Dead End [Hardcover]

Joan Lock (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2004

Featuring the popular Detective Best
When Phoebe Threapleton is found dead on a four-poster bed in Bainbridge's department store with six long-stemmed white roses next to her, Inspector Best is baffled. His initial investigations point him towards the shadowy world of spiritualism, but this proves as difficult to penetrate as the potential motives of the dozens of suspects from Phoebe's maid to the Bainbridges themselves.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Inspector Best is back in Lock's popular Victorian mystery series. This time he is dealing with the murder of Phoebe Threapleton, whose body was found, surrounded by white roses, in a four-poster bed in the furniture department of Bainbridge's Department Store. The only lead is a tenuous link to the disappearances of several other young women in the area. Best soon learns that the common thread in the cases might be spiritualism; Phoebe attended a seance just before her death, and the other missing women were also involved in this dark, mysterious world. As usual, Lock produces a clever, engaging mystery with plenty of authentic Victorian ambience. The spiritualist theme is nicely developed, both as a plot device and as a way of setting the historical context. Use this as a crossover connection to Barbara Weisberg's recent biography Talking to the Dead [BKL F 15 04], about the nineteenth-century spiritualists known as the Fox sisters. Emily Melton
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About the Author

Ex-nurse and policewoman, Joan Lock is the author of eight non-fiction police/crime books. She has also written radio plays and documentaries and contributes regularly to Red Herrings, the Crime Writers' Association journal. She is married to a retired police officer and lives in London.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 217 pages
• Publisher: Severn House Publishers (August 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0727860437
• ISBN-13: 978-0727860439
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,985,178 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)