Death of a good woman [Import] [Unknown Binding]

J. F Straker (Author)

Product Details

• Unknown Binding: 218 pages
• Publisher: Harrap (1961)
• ASIN: B0000CKV8Y
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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3.0 out of 5 stars Whodunit with a twist, October 4, 2003

By 

Geert Daelemans (Leuven Belgium) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Death of a Good Woman (Linford Mystery Library) (Paperback)

Eric Cawthorne goes out for a stroll after another of the frequent fights with his wife Grace. When he returns home Grace is gone, without leaving a note or any prove of where she went. The next day a neighbor finds the body of a woman at the coast, stuck between two rocks. It is, of course, the lifeless body of Grace. When the police find evidence of murder, Eric is immediately the main suspect. So it doesn't take long before Inspector Pitt arrives to arrest him. Sheila, the mistress of Eric, can't believe that he is a murderer and starts her own investigations.

Death of a Good Woman is a well written story and has everything that makes a decent detective story, with one exception: the opening sequence is wrong. There is absolutely no reason why Eric Cawthorne should be seen a suspect. There is nothing but circumstantial evidence, but nevertheless Eric is locked away for a few days. The only starting point is that nobody else has a motive, but that is in the real world no reason to commit a person to prison. A weird mistake coming from an author who has some experience with detective writing. Although Straker tries very hard, he never succeeds to make the characters believable. At a random moment in the story he changes the nature of a character without any clear reason.

But seen as a whole this book isn't that bad: it has a nice range of possible suspects; quite some red herrings and a good deal of plot twists. No Agatha Christie, but still enjoyable...