Italian Girl Pb [Large Print] [Paperback]

Patricia Hall (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Careful attention to psychology and skillful plotting distinguish Hall's contemporary police procedural set in Bront? country. On Coronation Day 1953, popular teenager Mariella Bonnetti disappears from her home in Bradfield, Yorkshire. Decades later, when her bones are unearthed at a construction site, Chief Inspector Michael Thackeray (last seen in Perils of the Night) faces the formidable task of identifying the girl's murderer. All he has to go on is the testimony of Mariella's aged parents and a few surviving neighbors. Meanwhile, Thackeray's live-in girlfriend, reporter Laura Ackroyd, finds herself drawn to has-been actor John Blake, who's returned from California to his native Yorkshire (pronounced "York-sheer" by his vulgar Hollywood assistant, Lorelie Baum) to promote a film version of Jane Eyre in which he'll star as Mr. Rochester. Blake decides that Laura would make the perfect Jane, both on screen and off, and begins to woo her. When he learns that she's living with a police detective, however, he turns nasty. It seems that Blake, who's rather reticent about his past, has something to hide--possibly something related to the case in question--and the jealous Thackeray puts Blake on the suspect list. Meanwhile, Lorelie, jealous in turn of her boss's pursuit of Laura, schemes to sabotage the film project. Thackeray has to rush to Laura's rescue in a traditional but exciting melodramatic finale, though a sly revelation in the novel's last sentence--immediately recognizable to Bront? fans--suggests that there is still an obstacle to be overcome before the pair can live happily ever after. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Chief Inspector Michael Thackeray and his reporter girlfriend Laura (In the Bleak Midwinter) tackle a decades-old case of murder after a construction crew unearths a skeleton in Bradfield. Unfortunately for Laura, her father becomes a suspect in the case. A fine English procedural.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Dales Large Print (August 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1853899348
• ISBN-13: 978-1853899348
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Italian Girl...Bravisima!, July 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Italian Girl (Hardcover)

Disturbed by diggers and shovels after almost fifty years of concealment in the earth, the human skull rolls and finally settles at the toe of a construction worker. "The game is afoot" for Patricia Hall's complex character, DCI Michael Thackeray and his independent lover, journalist Laura Ackroyd in THE ITALIAN GIRL.

The Coronation Day for Great Britain's Elizabeth II was a jubilant occasion for the British after years of war, loss and rationing. It was also a tragic day for the Bonnetti family, when their beautiful 15 year old daughter, Mariella went missing.

Almost 50 years later DCI Thackeray is called upon to both identify the skeletal remains of a young woman found at the excavation site as well as determine if a murder was committed. Delving into the past, Thackeray and Ackroyd discover that the dreadful events of that day so long ago remain a threat to an individual very much alive in the present.

THE ITALIAN GIRL is a great summer read. Although this is the first of the Thackeray and Ackroyd novels I've had the pleasure to read, so far, I had no difficulty getting involved with the characters. This is a deftly written, suspenseful, enjoyable, quasi-police procedural with complicated, well-fleshed out characters, sprinkled with the Yorkshire dialect. "There's nowt two roads" about it, kudos to Patricia Hall!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent story, well written mystery..., January 14, 2001

By 

Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Italian Girl (Hardcover)

THE ITALIAN GIRL by Patricia Hall is extremely well written and kept me fully engaged during the 5-6 hours I spent reading it this rainy Sunday afternoon. GIRL is precisely the sort of mystery I like--not too bloody! Well, more than one corpse surfaces, but the novel contains no gratuitous violence and Hall's character development and plot are excellent.

DCI Michael Thackeray, one of the main characters, is a recovering alcoholic with a sad secret he finally decides to share at the end of the story. His companion Laura Ackroyd, a feature news reporter for a local York paper is a red-headed, zealous, and at times dangerously impulsive young woman, but extremely likeable nevertheless. Laura's charming grandmother Joyce is a fiesty 80-year old who was probably just as reckless in her youth. Heck she's daring in her eighties!! Joyce's life-long causes--decent housing for the less well off, affordable and adequate health care, and safe and well-run nursing facilities are important if not trendy at the moment. If Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan are your role-models, you won't like Joyce!!

GIRL begins with the search for the identity of a skelton excavated at the site of a new housing project. The remains are quickly identified in spite of having been buried six feet under for nearly fifty years, largely owing to the presence of a gold cross found with the corpse (and featured on the book jacket). The remainder of the story involves a search for the killer. The murderer is some one she knew. I did not realize who it was until almost the end of the book because there are several possibilities, and Hall does a good job of laying out the clues and red herrings.

The little gold cross on the front cover is a symbol of many things including some rather interesting insights Hall shares through her characters about Roman Catholocism. As a former RC, I really appreciated her insights, but if you're terribly orthodox, you may not.

One reviewer quoted on the book jacket says Hall's writing is comparable to that of Elizabeth George, but I don't think so for several reasons. George writes extremely long books with a great deal of redundancy. Her plots are hysterical, and at times her characters behave in unbelivable ways. And, George's detectives are aristocrats. Hall's main characters are not aristocrts (think democrat, think liberal, think labor) but ordinary and mostly believeable people, Hall's writing is succinct and realistic. I will definitely read more of Hall's books.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good police procedural, April 25, 2000

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Italian Girl (Hardcover)

An abundance of construction work is going on in Bradfield, England until machine operator Paul O'Hallorhan uncovers a buried skull. The police shut down the area in order to retrieve the rest of the skeleton. The remains turn out to be an unknown female teenager. Reporter Laura Ackroyd's grandmother believes that the body is that of Mariella Bonnetti, a sixteen- year old who vanished fifty years ago and was never heard from again. Laura's lover DCI Michael Thackery is assigned the case and sets out to locate witnesses to an event that occurred in 1953.

Laura worries about her grandmother's placement in a nursing home after the senior citizen took a fall. She shows no interest in Michael's case. Her editor wants her to interview former matinee idol John Blake. Laura is unaware that these two seemingly innocuous incidents tie into Michael's investigation and leaves her facing danger from a perpetrator who thought they committed the perfect crime on England's last Coronation Day.

Laura and Michael represent the dark side of the human condition, flawed by their respective pasts, which makes them unable to take the next step towards a commitment together. They live for today, but that too is fraught with concerns and anxieties as Michael battles his conscience and Laura worries about her independence. The murder investigation serves as a catalyst that allows them to confront a killer as well as their own selves. THE ITALIAN GIRL is bleak yet compelling novel that shows the darker side of British town life. Patricia Hall shows much talent as she creates a fascinating, atmospheric British police procedural relationship drama for people to enjoy.

Harriet Klausner