Settled Out of Court [Paperback]

Bryan Marlowe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 6, 2007

Rex Baxter, a successful property developer, with a wife who despises him, but tolerates his philandering life-style for her own interests, and a young son who adores him, has a clandestine affair with an au pair staying with the family. While his wife and son are away he plans a weekend of sensual pleasure with the girl. On returning from shopping for their supper he finds her dead in the kitchen. He calls the police, who find all the clues they need to charge him with her rape and murder. He is tried for the offences, found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. Ten years into his sentence he dies.

One man knows Baxter was innocent—the killer. But he will face death himself, before he confesses to the crime. When he does, another man—Baxter’s son, sets out to seek revenge against all those who had any part in sending his father to prison.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Bryan Marlowe was born in the City of London, 1930. He left school at the age of 14. He had numerous jobs before National Service in the RAF 1948/1950. He rejoined the RAF in 1951and retired in 1971. Marlowe worked for 20 years with a northern police force. On retirement he took up voluntary work with Victim and Witness Support, coordinated neighbourhood watch schemes, and worked as a newspaper columnist. He has traveled extensively through the five continents and lived abroad. He now lives in South East London.

Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (November 6, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595477054
• ISBN-13: 978-0595477050
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A cracking read, November 25, 2007

By 

Tom Slaughter "T.S." (Brussels, Belgium) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Settled Out of Court (Paperback)

Considering that he only turned to novels two years ago, Bryan Marlowe proved himself prolific and more than adept at handling a range of genres, from the whimsical nostalgia of Memoirs of an Errant Youth, via the military rough and tumble of Tarnished Heroes, to riveting revenge yarn A Kind of Wild Justice.

Settled Out Of Court runs along similar lines to ...Justice, but Marlowe's choice of a sociopathic, revenge-driven young man as central character lifts the narrative into the realm of psychological study, as well as being a cracking read.

Dermot Baxter is the man with a plan - his father Rex died in jail after being wrongly imprisoned for the murder of his au pair lover. Still at home but distant from his mother, Baxter embarks on a calculated mission of revenge against all those members of the law and judiciary whom he believes must pay for the injustice. But the law is slowly and surely closing in...

Marlowe's own police experience (he worked for 20 years with a northern force in the UK) is put to good use here; the dialogue between the `coppers on the case' is believable, even if it occasionally seems forced between Baxter and his mother. By the same token, the writer's gift for creating enjoyable page-turners has once again been employed - that we are suckered into sympathising for a cold-blooded killer is an impressive turn from Marlowe, and there are more than enough twists and turns, coupled with genuinely suspenseful set-pieces, to keep thriller-hounds happy. Recommended.