While writing a novel, Kate Ivory clashes with Olivia Blacket, an English don at Leicester College, and when Olivia turns up dead and Kate's boyfriend becomes the prime suspect, Kate must find a way to unearth the truth. 10,000 first printing.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Stallwood, in her fourth Kate Ivory mystery (after Oxford Exit, 1995), assembles a quirky cast backed by solid plotting and wicked humor. Kate, 30, blonde and fiercely independent, is a historical romance writer somewhat out of place in the snobby world of Oxford academe. In pursuit of a new angle for her latest novel about Charles Dickens and his mistress, she turns to Dr. Olivia Blacket, who, in the course of her research at Leicester College, has been handed a treasure trove of uncatalogued Dickens papers. Olivia is "difficult." She is also hostile, secretive and, above all, intimate with Liam Ross, Kate's lover. But someone else is desperately seeking Olivia. Angel, a lovely 22-year-old amnesiac, has suddenly recovered her memory of some tragic events?and decides that murderous revenge upon Olivia is called for. When Olivia is discovered in her office, bludgeoned almost beyond recognition, the investigation sets off a chain of events involving Kate's chicanery, the machinations of a group of enterprising yet disturbed street people (Angel is one of them) and the tepid investigations of the local police, led by Kate's good friend, the rather pallid Detective Sergeant Paul Taylor. Kate, who is not above breaking, entering and dissembling when it suits her, puts herself at great risk. This lively, acerbic book gives new meaning to the term "publish or perish."
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Former librarian Stallwood has concocted another Oxford-centered mystery (e.g., Oxford Exit, LJ 2/1/95) featuring novelist Kate Ivory. When murder strikes down a young and attractive don at a local college, police finger Kate's sometime lover Liam. Solid and satisfying.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A pleasant diversion,
This review is from: Oxford Mourning: A Kate Ivory Mystery (Hardcover)
Oxford Mourning is the perfect companion for a cold, winter afternoon, when your body is weary from a morning of sledding with the kids, and your mind, while alert, is not quite up to the task of too challenging a read. Partway through this short, tight mystery, I realized that Stallwood's attention to her characters was somewhat reminiscent of Barbara Vine/Ruth Rendell's marvelous psychological studies masquerading as whodunnits. I say somewhat because Vine/Rendell is a master of the genre, whereas Stallwood is more of a reasonably apt pupil. Two Kate Ivory mysteries preceded this one, but I have not yet read them. That said, let me note that, in Oxford Mourning, the secondary characters of "the family" are more vividly portrayed than the sleuth herself. Not at all a disappointing way to spend a few hours, though.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Flitting through Oxford,
By disheveledprofessor "disheveledprofessor" (the home of the Blue Angels) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Oxford Mourning: A Kate Ivory Mystery (Hardcover)
I picked up this mystery because I enjoy English settings. Oxford is an important character in this diverting novel. It is a quick read, and often entertaining. On the whole, however, I was disappointed in it. One of the main characters has lost her memory, and consequently is presented very vaguely; it is hard to care about a character so illy defined. I think the novel would have been stronger if we had a sense of Angel's character earlier. Stallwood shifts the narrative voice from character to character almost paragraph by paragraph, I had a sense I was developing ADD. A light, diverting read, but Stallwood cannot develop characterization as well as Margaret Yorke.
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