Inspector Michael Thackeray and the new reporter in town, Laura Ackroyd, cross paths as they pursue answers to the mystery of the deaths of two women, and Laura struggles with the less than friendly welcome she receives from fellow journalists, local businessmen, and landowners.
| |||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
Bradfield Chief Inspector Michael Thackeray avoids High Clough, the Yorkshire Dales village where he grew up, and its market town, Arnedale, where he began his police career, lost his family, and drank himself into disgrace. But Thackeray's mother, ill since he was 16 with multiple sclerosis, is dying. His father, too old to care for her and his failing sheep farm, wants his son to take over. Laura Ackroyd, the Bradfield reporter who deems her and Thackeray's relationship "too close to be called friendship and too precarious to be called an affair," is off to Arnedale for several months as assistant editor of a weekly paper too cozy with the locals to cover breaking news. And the cases Thackeray and the dapper, London-bred Sergeant Kevin Mower are investigating--the murder, disguised as a traffic accident, of an attractive young estate agent and a string of mortgage fraud cases--draw them inexorably toward the Dales, where, with the help of an iconoclastic Scottish muckraker, Ackroyd and Thackeray penetrate complicated plots and puzzles and move a few steps closer to trusting one another. Mary Carroll
From Kirkus Reviews
It's a bitter winter in the Yorkshire town of Bradfield, where Inspector Michael Thackeray (Death by Election, 1994, etc.) confronts the murder of Linda Wright, who'd worked for the long- established real estate firm of Cheetham and Moore. Linda's body was found in her own car, which had caught on a bump near the top of a reservoir--or else it might never have been found at all. Suspicion immediately falls on a suddenly vanished Jimmy Townsend, Linda's frequent escort and a fellow employee at the company, which had lately been the object of investigation into mortgage scams. Just at this time reporter Laura Ackroyd, Thackeray's lover, has been sent to Arnedale, 20 miles away, where Townsend's dying mother and hard-bitten sheep-rancher father still live. Laura's boss, owner of the Arnedale Observer, wants Laura on the scene as the locals, headed by farmer Ray Harding and realtor Barry Moore, do battle with a pathetic band of New Age travelers camped in the hills. They're supported by Faith Lawrence and by Fergal MacKenzie, who puts out a free paper that competes with the Observer. Amid escalating rumors of farm sales and development plans, brutal attacks and killings are happening, largely ignored by the local police chief until Thackeray arrives to see justice done and to solve his own case as well. Psychologically acute, with graphic depiction of a bleak, snowbound scene, characters who are often as chilling as the place, and the tense, tortured love affair between Laura and Thackeray. Absorbing stuff. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Patricia Hall remembers telling stories to her little sisters when she was six years old, and by the time she was in her early teens she was sure that she was going to be a writer one day. She gained a a degree in English before becoming a journalist and working for The Guardian and the BBC in London, amongst others.
On 1991 her first crime novel, The Poison Pool, was published in London and New York and this was followed by a book a year. Most feature her feisty heroine, reporter Laura Ackroyd and her on-off lover DCI Michael Thackeray. They are set in the decaying industrial towns of West Yorkshire and the nearby countryside of the Yorkshire Dales. In 2011 she launched a new series with Dead Beat, casting a sceptical eye on "Swinging London" in the 1960s. The sequel, Death Trap, will be published in 2012.
Patricia is married and now lives in Oxford. She has two grown up sons and a grand-daughter.
Visit Patricia's web-site at www.patriciahall.co.uk
On 1991 her first crime novel, The Poison Pool, was published in London and New York and this was followed by a book a year. Most feature her feisty heroine, reporter Laura Ackroyd and her on-off lover DCI Michael Thackeray. They are set in the decaying industrial towns of West Yorkshire and the nearby countryside of the Yorkshire Dales. In 2011 she launched a new series with Dead Beat, casting a sceptical eye on "Swinging London" in the 1960s. The sequel, Death Trap, will be published in 2012.
Patricia is married and now lives in Oxford. She has two grown up sons and a grand-daughter.
Visit Patricia's web-site at www.patriciahall.co.uk
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great series....,
This review is from: The Dead of Winter (Hardcover)
I had some difficulty locating this book and ended up buying a copy of IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER from Alibris. The DEAD OF WINTER is the U.S. title of the book sold in the Britain as IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER and the two books are 99% alike. My understanding is that the U.S. editors change words, phrases, etc. they think Americans won't understand, which is silly because one of the reasons many Americans read British mysteries is because they LIKE the Brits and want to learn more about them. For example, would you understand "the labors of Causabon"? Hint--has to do with MIDDLEMARCH. Patricia Hall has been developing a lovely series about her two protagonists Michael Thackerey and Laura Ackroyd and this is the 3rd or 4th book in the series. If you're following the Thackery-Ackroyd relationship, you will want to read this book since it provides insight into Thackery's struggles with his past. I know a man like Thackery, dealing with the death of his child, and I have to believe that Hall must also. In addition, Thackery is what some call a "fallen-away Catholic" and being in that category myself, I understand some of his angst. Hall also has a political message--though her main characters are relatively neutral given their professions of news reporter and cop--and since I am of the liberal persuasion and agree with her message, I enjoy her books. Social conservatives won't like her books. A few of us Anglophiles are also of a socialist leaning however, and for us she is pure gold. What sort of people can deny the poor health care!!! In the DEAD OF WINTER/IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER a number of folks need health care. There's plenty of murder and mayhem including angry parents who stage protest rallies to block eco-bashing trucks from destroying the peace and quiet and safety of a small village. There's not a lot of humour in this book but I love the names of the greedy corporate types--Cheetam and Moore. This is a great book. Find it and read it.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
