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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Smashing New Entry in a Solid Series, February 17, 2003
One of the things that always amazes and delights me about Jill McGown's wonderful DCIs Hill and Lloyd British procedurals is their completely baffling, yet utterly flawless structure. Her intricate plots move at a breath-taking pace towards what seems like a wholly logical denouement and then suddenly your jaw drops because her solution to the crime in question...utterly reasonable once you put the right pieces together...is not at all what you (or, quite frequently, her characters) had anticipated. That is certainly the case with appropriately-titled "Death in the Family". Judy and Lloyd's wedding plans have been temporarily shelved due to the early arrival of their daughter, Charlotte Frances. However, while they are happily adjusting to their new status as a family, elsewhere in Stansfield, families are being shattered left and right with deadly consequences. Self-centered, well-to-do Lesley Newton has no particular qualms about breaking up Ian and Theresa Waring's marriage so that she and Ian can marry and emigrate to Australia, taking her adopted daughter from her first marriage...rebellious, troubled, thirteen-year-old Kayleigh Scott...with them. Her blithe disregard for anything but her own desires infuriates her former husband, Kayleigh's devoted stepfather, Phil Rodham, and also impels Kayleigh (since her mother has arbitrarily separated her from her best and only friend) into a sexual entanglement with petty criminal, Dean Fletcher, that leaves her pregnant and him arrested and jailed as a pedophile. All of which and more eventually add up to sufficient grounds for Lloyd to call it murder when Lesley's dead body is discovered at the Waring's country cottage shortly after Fletcher's release. As he pursues his investigation, Judy - still on maternity leave - inadvertently gets unofficially caught up in one of her own: while walking Charlotte in the park, she hears terrified screams. A teenage nanny has made a quick trip back to the car park leaving her charge alone, and the baby has disappeared. Inevitably, Judy's desparate need to find the kidnapper in time to save the baby becomes part and parcel of Lloyd's search for an elusive killer. The pieces start to come together...suspects are jailed...then Judy makes a startling discovery, and all bets are off. The real truth behind Lesley Newton's murder is a shocker. I understand that plotting is paramount in the mystery genre, but I especially love reading novels that not only weave a compelling story, but also allow room for me to get thoroughly involved with the every day lives of their protagonists. Judy Hill and hitherto nameless Lloyd are so lovingly-drawn that it's a rare and genuine pleasure to spend time with them. Jill McGown never disappoints me. I think "Death in the Family" is the strongest entry to date in this rock-solid series, and I found it almost impossible to put down.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Births, Deaths, and Marriages, April 1, 2004
In the UK this book was published as Births, Deaths and Marriages, a title I happen to like better than the rather bland "A Death in the Family". The American title seems to place too much emphasis on the murder, whereas the British title suggests that it is the overall situation that should be examined. I have to agree that this is not the book for the rank newcomer to the Hill/Lloyd saga but for those of us who have been following the ups and downs of DCI Hill and Lloyd and Their bedeviled police force, this is a good read. While the mystery is not all that impenetrable, the characters are well drawn-- I always find myself jolted by the realization that the British aren't Americans with funny accents-- and the plot, while ultimately relying on concidence, turns on the issues raised by the above mentioned births, deaths and marriages. Easy to pick up, hard to put down.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Well written British mystery, May 12, 2003
A new entry in the series featuring Chief Detective Lloyd and Chief Detective Judy Hill transitions their relationship towards domestic harmony. Judy gives birth to their daughter early in the novel, and a wedding if finally a serious conversation. Running in parallel to the story line of Judy's & Lloyd's relationship is a kidnapping and a murder. The kidnapping is of a young infant that was born in the same hospital and at the same time as Judy & Lloyd's baby. McGown skillfully uses the kidnapping to explore Judy's feelings towards motherhood, work, and love for her new family. This is not to say that the crimes take second place through out the book. There is quite a cast of potential suspects, and motive and opportunity are explored for each. There are two points in the book where the characters and possibilities are so numerous that you need to read carefully. Although the final culprit is not a surprise, the role that coincidence plays in solving the crime adds tension to the ending.
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