The Murders of Mrs. Austin and Mrs. Beale [Mass Market Paperback]

Jill McGown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 29, 1993

"Clever and surprising."
THE KIRKUS REVIEWS
Both victims were dishy, but that's all murder victims Leonora Austin, struggling artist, and Rosemary Beale, ex-call girl had in common. It's a disturbing case for newly promoted Detective Inspector Judy Hill, who knew Leonora, but also for her boyfriend, Detective Chief Inspector Lloyd. But when investigating the complicated romantic lives of Mrs. Austin and Mrs. Beale, including their husbands' past and present lovers, Hill and Lloyd uncover cold-hearted greed and calculated ambition--and a killer (or killers?) wanting to finish the job....

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this latest Inspector Lloyd/Inspector Judy Hill case (after Murder Movie ) the single exciting character is Lennie Austin, a gifted, free-spirited artist. Unfortunately, her head is bashed in early on and the reader is left with duller folk--the cohabiting inspectors, their detective sergeants, one big-time crook, one small-time ex-con, an engineer, his pregnant wife, an additional homicide victim, and Lennie's husband, a wealthy Conservative Party candidate for Parliament. An excellent, intricate plot goes down the drain here because multiple viewpoints and rapid scene shifts are unnecessarily confusing, especially in the beginning, when characters not only lie a lot but also think evasive, ambiguous thoughts. Interest does quicken as the investigation unfolds, but by then many readers may have jumped ship.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Dual murders for Detective Chief Inspector Lloyd of the Stansfield CID and girlfriend Judy Hill (Murder at the Old Vicarage, etc.) in the nearby Malworth district. Lennie Austin, a friend of Judy's who's married to politically ambitious Jonathan, is found bludgeoned to death in their apartment. Hours later, a few miles away, Rosemary Beale, wife of rich, in-the-rackets Frank Beale, is found strangled in their plush, security-tight apartment. The Beales' neighbors are Gordon Pearce and his pregnant wife Pauline. Pearce's failing engineering firm had been rescued by Austin's business acumen, but Rosemary, a new member of the board of Austin-Pearce, was pushing to get Pearce out. Rosemary's chauffeur Steve Tasker, hired by her husband, was a past lover of Lennie Austin's and was trying to relight those old fires on the night she died. Wheels within wheels as Lloyd, his overanxious new Sergeant Mickey Drake, and Judy try to make sense of it, talking ceaselessly like everyone else (plus inner voices) in this overstuffed, overwritten story. The solution, when it finally arrives, is clever and surprising; getting there is verbose, confusing, and a touch pretentious. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Fawcett (December 29, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449221628
• ISBN-13: 978-0449221624
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,034,037 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars unique characters and intelligent story, October 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Murders of Mrs. Austin and Mrs. Beale (Mass Market Paperback)

I really enjoyed reading this book. Jill McGown's characters are simply unique. Contrary to many other successful women crime writers, her main characters are portrayed as down to earth persons, who do not have fancy jobs or hobbies. They have their bad days and their good ones, can be agressive or unreasonable - and that's what makes them so human. Chief Inspector Lloyd ( no firstnames, please) and Inspector Judy Hill are a most unlikely couple and sometimes hillariously funny. In addition, you really will want to know who did it and this is extremely hard to guess. I would recommend this book to everyone who likes British characters.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is one of the best plotted mysteries I've read in a while, April 3, 2006

By 

M. C. Crammer (Decatur, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: The Murders of Mrs. Austin and Mrs. Beale (Mass Market Paperback)

I was stunned by the "whodunit" ending -- it came out of left field and yet it was all there in front of me and I had missed it. I read a lot of mysteries and can often guess the culprit but although there was a little bit that I was right about, most of it I just missed.

The plot is complex but not so complex that you can't follow it, in part because there are a limited number of characters. Two murders of well-heeled women take place in the same area (neighboring towns in England) on the same night -- and the two victims (who don't know each other) have been talking on the phone that night. Police Detective Inspector Lloyd is heading up the investigation of the first murder discovered -- a talented artist who has married for money -- and his live-in girlfriend Judy Hill, who has recently transferred to a new jurisdiction because of their relationship, is heading up the other murder -- a woman with a streetwalking past who is married to a man known to have a history of very shady business activities.

Did the same person kill them both? How are the killings related (if they are)? What was the motive or motives? This is a cozy in the sense that the list of suspects is reasonably short (spouses, boyfriends, etc.) and it's a question of puzzling out what happened that night -- talking to witnesses, recreating the night, etc.

This is my first by this British author but I intend to read more.

5.0 out of 5 stars Forget the reviews in Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews above, January 22, 2012

By 

Reader in New York (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Murders of Mrs Austin and Mrs Beale (Paperback)

The plotting in this book is absolutely outstanding. When the solutions come at the end, they are based -- as the Inspector puts it -- not on any new information but on information that they had all along.

All the hints are there and open for the reader to see. When the Inspector explains all, the reader is left to kick himself for not having caught all (or even any) of the clues.

Fair is fair, and this is one of the best.