Guilty Party [Mass Market Paperback]

Marian Babson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1993

Leonora begins to suspect that her oddball neighbors are up to know good when she sees a body beneath the bushes of the Cosgreave Estate and the next day, they deny everything. Reprint. PW.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Veteran mystery writer Babson ( Fatal Fortune ) again produces a literate, suspenseful tale. Frail American artist Leonora Rice arrives in Little Woadpit-by-Marsh intending to "bury herself in a quiet English village, where she knew no one and no one knew her." She wants to work on pictures for an exhibition offered her by a West End gallery, but her peace is shattered by disquieting events and the strange behavior of tenants of Cosgreave Hall, the gardener's cottage of which Leonora has leased. There is the sudden illness of Eddie, rich American husband of Bunty, daughter of Lady Cosgreave; a fire at Cosgreave Hall; and the discovery of a body in the bushes outside Leonora's cottage. The body may be that of Horton, the hated former gardener, but Lady Cosgreave and her eccentric tenants try to persuade Leonora that she has imagined the whole thing. Leonora's only ally is Annabel Hinchby-Smythe, of whom Lady Cosgreave observes, "One day of Annabel's gin consumption would lay Miss Marple out under the table for a month." Leonora and Annabel crack this neat, witty sophisticated puzzle in eminently satisfactory fashion.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Another outing for the indefatigable Babson (Fatal Fortune, etc.), this time a rather bedraggled exercise that finds American artist Leonora Rice rebounding from a traumatic affair, renting the gardener's cottage on Lady Cosgreave's English estate, and hoping to work in peace for an upcoming exhibit. Lady Cosgreave's roving- eyed daughter Bunty and financial whiz son-in-law Eddie live in the manor house; other estate dwellings are occupied by various gossipy, hard-drinking types, augmented on weekends by more of the same. When Leonora discovers the body of disgruntled ex-gardener Horton, she's quickly hustled out of the picture--the body disappears, not to be heard of again until Eddie nearly becomes a second corpse. Murder, motivation, and common sense take a backseat here to reams of Noel Cowardish dialogue and byplay. A tiresome mishmash, strictly for forgiving fans. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (March 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446363871
• ISBN-13: 978-0446363877
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,651,066 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Introducing Annabelle Hinchby-Smythe, October 3, 2011

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This review is from: Guilty Party (Hardcover)

An artist suffering from the artistic equivalent of writer's block settles in what she THINKS is a tranquil village. WRONG! Nosy, rather domineering neighbors (the least irritating one is, ironically, quasi-alcoholic gossip columnist Annabelle Hinchby-Smythe), particularly the village grand dame who takes it as a given that the new neighbor would be HONORED to do her portrait. Then there's a disappearing corpse that might or might not be the local gardener (or might or might not be dead, for that matter), and things get very, VERY untranquil, indeed.