Customer Reviews

Not to Be Taken (Black Dagger Crime Series)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

John Waterhouse is a burly, energetic man who stamped his mark on great works in all corners of the globe, but who has now retired to the country with his ailing wife. The village is small and the neighbours friendly (to the extent one can choose one's friends in the country!). When one day sickness comes to the Waterhouse mansion, everyone is astonished that rather than wispy Mrs Waterhouse who suffers an illness it is strapping John.

As John's condition worsens, tongues start to wag, and Frances presents her husband Douglas with a half full medicine bottle she has sneaked from beside the sick bed, suggesting they get it analysed. As John dies, Douglas resolves to take the bottle to the police, only to discover it has vanished. At that moment Cyril, John's brother, arrives, and the exhumation he orders reveals John died of arsenic poisoning - but there's no arsenic in the house! As Douglas frets about the missing medicine, secrets come tumbling out of closets, and everyone suffers a hair-raising time at the inquest until a surprise message arrives from a most unexpected source....

Well, what a belter! Berkeley is on top form with this novel. Written from Douglas's point of view, we follow his bemused progress through the days of the death and inquest until eventually he realises who is responsible for the mayhem, and confronts them. Berkeley has also taken a leaf from Queen's book, and includes a challenge to the reader just before the denouement. The writing is as clean, witty and enjoyable as ever, and it's all very well presented in the Langtail house-style of this new edition.

Hugely enjoyable!