Pursuit and Persuasion (Ben Reese Mystery) [Paperback]

Sally S. Wright (Author)

Book Description

Series: Ben Reese Mystery | Publication Date: February 28, 2000

The third installment in author Sally Wright's Ben Reese Mystery series explores the issues of human possessiveness and self-obsession, highlighting how lust for what we want can lead us astray. Scottish professor Georgina Fletcher has died of "natural causes," but not before writing a letter asking for an investigation into her death. American archivist Ben Reese takes up the dangerous challenge that starts out with a sixteenth-century stabbing and incorporates elements of falconry, tire making, microbiology, and book collecting before Georgina's hidden poems eventually help him find the killer. -- This book has been nominated for an Edgar award by the Mystery Writers of America.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If you feared that you were going to be killed and had a good idea who it might be, would you leave a cryptic note asking a friend to investigate even the most natural-appearing death if it happened--and not name your suspect? That's the premise of this pleasant third entry in Sally Wright's Ben Reese series (Publish and Perish, Pride and Predator) and unlikely as it may be, she makes do with it more than adequately.

Georgina Fletcher is a Scottish academic, a sensible woman troubled in the weeks before her seemingly natural death by knowledge of some unpleasantness in her family's history and a strong desire to make amends for the misdeeds of her forbears. When a former student of American archivist Ben Reese inherits Georgina's estate, she asks him to help her solve the professor's mystery so that she can carry out Georgina's wishes. Ben's investigation turns up several likely suspects in Georgina's demise, and the secret of how she was killed. Along the way, the reader is treated to descriptions and explanations of matters as far-ranging as falconry, stone-sculpting, microbiology, and rare book collecting.

A relatively bloodless cozy with pacing as slow as a country stroll, Pursuit and Persuasion presents the petty rivalries of academia nicely. Ben Reese, whose background as a World War II scout provides enough of a provenance to put him in the detecting business, is an interesting protagonist who warrants a fuller portrayal. --Jane Adams

From the Inside Flap

ACADEMIC SLEUTH BEN REESE RETURNS TO SCOTLAND,
ENTANGLED IN A CASE OF MURDER AMONG FRIENDS.

The sudden death of rich, generous Scottish professor Georgina Fletcher seems like a tragic accident. Indeed, American archivist Ben Reese can scarcely believe that it was not. But Georgina had foreseen her death, and had laid down a secret trail of evidence pointing to a hard-hearted murder committed by someone with much to gain if she died--or to lose if she lived. Was it the brilliant sculptor Georgina had educated and supported? The beautiful student who is also her heir? Her late husband's business associates? Or a jealous colleague in her own department? It appears that someone very close to her not only killed with fiendish cleverness but wants to ensnare Ben like a blind rat in a live trap--from which he'll never escape. . . . --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 356 pages
• Publisher: Multnomah Books (February 28, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576734161
• ISBN-13: 978-1576734162
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,299,320 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tightly woven classic British suspense mystery., May 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Pursuit and Persuasion (Ben Reese Mystery) (Paperback)

Early 1960s, Scotland, a touch of Oxford, and pathological obsessions are the context for a fascinating plot. Though one of the author's Ben Reese series, the book stands very well on its own legs. Ben Reese, an archivist and unsung war hero, is called upon to help a friend solve the murder of a wealthy business woman who was also an Oxford scholar and professor. Ben is an American from Ohio academia, combining work with visiting friends in Scotland. The United Kingdom is familiar ground for Ben, from the years of WW II and subsequently his academic work. Some of the best aspects of the story are the intersections of the present with Ben's own past.

This is no cardboard copy of the classic British mystery. It is original and spiced with plenty of suspense. The motives for murder are as classic as Shakespeare and as old as time -- avarice and self-absorption manifested in the singlemindedness of the obsessive, secret collector of rare and priceless artifacts. In this case it is a clever villain whose victim dies of apparent natural causes. But this victim was a worthy opponent -- she left a letter foretelling her death but not naming her murderer. Instead Ben Reese must unravel a complex set of clues which may (or may not) be linked with other murders of other times, including a 400-year-old murder in the turbulent Tudor reigns. Commingled with the clues are a cast of eccentric characters each with his or her own agenda. Sometimes the author's description of geography is a bit confusing, but the map provided at the beginning is helpful for those who want to accurately follow Ben's travels in pursuit of evidence. And while some of the characters are more like props than people, Ben is fully drawn and an interesting person to know. The prose is well done and lyrically augmented with poetry written by the victim as a form of diary.

Whether by a fire on a rainy day or in the shade on a sunny summer afternoon, you will not put this book down until it's done and then you will wish it went on just a bit more!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Edgar Award Finalist, March 7, 2001

By 

Pam (Accord, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pursuit and Persuasion: A Ben Reese Mystery (Ben Reese Mysteries (Ballantine)) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is an engrossing and complex book. Not actually my favorite of Sally Wright's three mysteries, but beautifully written as always. And, a finalist for an Edgar this year. Worthwhile.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All This and Scotland, Too, March 19, 2011

By 

Donna Fletcher Crow - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pursuit And Persuasion (Ben Reese mystery series) (Kindle Edition)

Tough and gentle, Ben Reese is a man of determination and he never overlooks a detail. Ben pursues details--and killers--from the Cotswolds to Scotland to solve an involved intellectual puzzle. This is a thriller with a subtle moral tale. As always, Sally Wright delivers all one expects--and then more.