The Lone Traveller [Hardcover]

Susan Kelly (Author)

Book Description

Series: A | Publication Date: July 2000

Superintendent Gregory Summers investigates the murder of a child on the North Downs as gypsies and New Age travelers dance to the summer solstice.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

Thames Valley police superintendent Gregory Summers has just taken into custody Huwie Lee, a distraught Romany dad who killed his estranged wife when she wouldn't give him back their kids, and is looking forward to a sultry, homey night with young Angelica, his son's widow. . . when the call comes in about Jordan Abbot, a blond, blue-eyed child of six, who ought to be in bed, but isn't. Her sweetly arranged body is found hours later after good citizen Doug Cameron admits he saw her in the roadway heading toward the gypsy encampment, but lies about where he had been coming from. When pictures taken that afternoon place Jordan with the simple-minded gypsy lad Lashlo, the lynch-minded townsfolk surround his caravan. Summers, who can barely protect him, runs afoul of his bull-headed (and–bodied) dad and his fortune-telling mom, as well as their former brother-in-law, John Smith, released after 25 years in prison on charges of killing his wife and two kids. The inquiry is bogged down still further by anonymous letters and phone calls, filthy New Agers camped near the gypsies, and a TV appearance by Jordan's mom, lashing out at police inadequacies. Summers, treading judiciously through arcane Romany customs, old love triangles, past murders, and station-house malfeasance, tallies up yet more deaths before the gypsies and the hippie throwbacks decamp for good.Kelly (Quick Brown Fox, 1999, etc.) has a deft touch with problem relationships, including May-December romances, parent-child expectations and reconciliations, and supervisor-underling battles at work. Middle-aged Summers is comfy company, but a wise-child Romany offspring steals the show. -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review

"compelling plot line, solid, complex protagonist . . . prime entertainment." -- Library Journal

"mesmerizing . . .clear and perfectly paced with vivid characters . . ." -- Deadly Pleasures --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Allison & Busby LTD (July 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0749004622
• ISBN-13: 978-0749004620
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,322,201 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A winner, August 1, 2000

By 

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

This review is from: The Lone Traveller (Hardcover)

In Hungerford, Thames Valley Police Superintendent Gregory Summers has no time to rest on his laurels after successfully handling a dangerous hostage situation. Six year old Jordan Abbot is missing with the only clue being a good Samaritan stating he saw the lass heading towards the nearby Gypsy camp. The police soon find the corpse of the little girl.

Pictures surface showing Jordan with a Gypsy boy Lashlo. However, instead of being able to fully investigate the murder, Gregory and his subordinates struggle to keep the locals from lynching Lashlo. Still Gregory manages to make some inquiries among the Gypsies, the locals, and an encampment of New Agers. As more deaths occur and the victim's mother encouraged by the media blames the police for not finding the killer, Gregory continues to search for the truth.

The first Summers police procedural is an interesting tale not so much for its investigation, but for its relationships. The story line is filled with dysfunctional pairings that make for a more difficult case. Gregory is a superb character who learns life's basic lesson not to star with a precocious child because invariably the kid owns the book. Susan Kelly's adroit ability to make her charcaters seem real through their problematic associations, which will send readers searching for her previous novels (see the author's "Hope" books).

Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mystery With a Difference, July 25, 2008

By 

Frederick S. Dawson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Lone Traveller (A Gregory Summers Mystery) (Paperback)

While this is definitely a mystery novel, having a British inspector seeking to identify a killer in an English town, it is very different from an Agatha Christie whodunit. Don't read this book expecting it to follow Dame Christie's rules. For one thing, we first encounter our hero, Gregory Summers, having an incestuous affair with his deceased son's widow. If you can accept this, you will probably find him one of the more likable sleuths. Still, it has little to do with the actual mystery.
That has a family of gypsies, New Age hippies, good and bad cops, a gay photographer, some typical middle-class suburbanites and the lone traveller of the title. All of these people are well-drawn and none is as predictable as they seem.
Except for locale, this book has more in common with Georges Simenon's Maigret stories than the typical British cozy. A good undemanding read.