Cop Out (Detective Inspector Carol Ashton Mystery) [Paperback]

Claire McNab (Author)

Book Description

Series: Detective Inspector Carol Ashton Mystery | Publication Date: August 1, 2003

A family business turns deadly...

Bryce Darcy, partner is a highly successful family business, has been brutally murdered. Charlotte Darcy, sister to the victim, has confessed. Open and shut case, Detective Inspector Carol Ashton is informed. Not so, argues Carol’s aunt, friend to the Darcy family. She contends that Charlotte is mentally incompetent.

Carol reopens the investigation. Bus she is in personal crisis, close to burnout. Sick of the patriarchal framework of police work, sick of hiding her real lesbian self for the sake of her career.

Carol’s lover is not much help — Sybil has found her own direction in a dynamic women’s group. And the loyal Detective Sergeant Mark Bourke is distracted by his interest in the career of a promising female constable new to homicide.

Amid her own predicament, Carol finds herself embroiled in a family at war. She discovers that the dead man was a member of a support group for married gay men. And that the Darcy family, blessed with fame and fortune, seethes with secrets: ambiguous parentage, a disgraceful family swindle, fraud, infidelity, attempted drug poisoning. And among the warring Darcys is a pitiless murderer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When Bryce Darcy is bludgeoned to death, his sister Charlotte is found with the body and the murder weapon, possessed of a convenient case of amnesia. To Detective Inspector Carol Ashton, it all seems a bit too tidy. Such instincts have served Ashton well during her rise through the male-dominated Sydney police force--as has her decision to keep her life with her lover, Sybil, a secret. Ashton soon discovers her prime suspect: Charlotte's nasty husband Eric, who has been feeding his wife drugs to have her declared incompetent, gain control of her money and marry his mistress. But then Ashton suspects that Bryce may have been killed to prevent him from revealing financial shenanigans within the family-owned company. When she learns that Bryce had sought counseling for his own covert homosexuality, she wonders: Would his tough-as-nails wife prefer widowhood to being cast aside? Smooth writing by McNab ( Lessons in Murder ) lends plausibility to the ultimate solution. Although gay concerns are woven firmly and, for the most part, effectively into this procedural, the action lags while Ashton muses over career burnout and begins, tentatively, to step out of the closet.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

As she labors on a case of possible fratricide, Australian Detective Inspector Carol Ashton ( Death Down Under , Naiad Pr., 1990) faces some truths about her own mostly closeted sexuality. Police find designer Charlotte Darcy beside the battered body of her accountant brother, bloody hammer at hand, but their parents, owners of the fabulously successful family business, conveniently arrive with a psychiatrist. Ashton and colleagues refuse to accept the obvious, needless to say, so repeated interrogations ensue. McNab presents a basically straightforward, nicely done plot without much complication. Not as deep or practiced as Sandra Scoppettone's Everything You Have Is Mine (LJ 4/1/91), but certainly worth a read.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Bella Books (August 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931513295
• ISBN-13: 978-1931513296
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,285,276 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Steady entertainment, August 20, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Cop Out (Detective Inspector Carol Ashton Mystery, No 4) (Paperback)

If you've read any of the Carol Ashton series, you know the formula for the books. There is always a mystery, with some twists and turns, and Ashton is trying to figure out what kind of personal relationship she really wants, with Sybil or anyone else. Each successive book reveals more of her personality. The issue of whether or not to come out of the closet is becoming an important one by this point. If you miss one or read the books out of order, you might get lost in the relationships. This is a good serviceable addition to the series.