"Without breaking the conventions--and restrictions--of whodunit plotting, McGown always manages to people her books with characters who are entirely believable, fascinating human beings. This is a rare skill, which should be more widely recognized. Jill McGown is one of the most seriously underrated crime novelists around."
--The Times (London)
When Andy Cope and his wife, Kathy, owners of a struggling detective agency, are found dead in their car--peacefully holding hands and apparently asphyxiated--Detective Chief Inspector Lloyd rejects the majority opinion that they committed suicide. His theory, that the Copes were murdered, receives serious consideration when their one clients, wealthy Mrs. Angela Esterbrook, is shot to death. Why would someone with her sort of money employ an untried agency to carry out an investigation? That's just one of many puzzles that Lloyd and his partner, Judy Hill, confront in a case that defies reason.
In fact, the entire super-rich Esterbrook family is a puzzle; Angela, the controlling matriarch, now dead; son Paul, with his compulsive amorous pursuits; Elizabeth, Paul's edgily suspicious wife; stepson Josh, the family black sheep; and the beautiful but inscrutable Sandie, a young woman both sons find very attractive.
With the megamillion Esterbrook fortune hanging in the balance, multiple murder is perhaps inevitable. For the curtain is just now rising on a tragedy of Shakespearean grandeur. But no one, not even the cunning killer, anticipates how the plot will take on a lethal life of its own--beyond everyone's control.
Jill McGown's darkly brilliant novels are as mysteriously layered as life itself, as precisely calibrated as a fine pistol. Plots and Errors is her most intricate creation to date.
--The Times (London)
When Andy Cope and his wife, Kathy, owners of a struggling detective agency, are found dead in their car--peacefully holding hands and apparently asphyxiated--Detective Chief Inspector Lloyd rejects the majority opinion that they committed suicide. His theory, that the Copes were murdered, receives serious consideration when their one clients, wealthy Mrs. Angela Esterbrook, is shot to death. Why would someone with her sort of money employ an untried agency to carry out an investigation? That's just one of many puzzles that Lloyd and his partner, Judy Hill, confront in a case that defies reason.
In fact, the entire super-rich Esterbrook family is a puzzle; Angela, the controlling matriarch, now dead; son Paul, with his compulsive amorous pursuits; Elizabeth, Paul's edgily suspicious wife; stepson Josh, the family black sheep; and the beautiful but inscrutable Sandie, a young woman both sons find very attractive.
With the megamillion Esterbrook fortune hanging in the balance, multiple murder is perhaps inevitable. For the curtain is just now rising on a tragedy of Shakespearean grandeur. But no one, not even the cunning killer, anticipates how the plot will take on a lethal life of its own--beyond everyone's control.
Jill McGown's darkly brilliant novels are as mysteriously layered as life itself, as precisely calibrated as a fine pistol. Plots and Errors is her most intricate creation to date.
