Standing in the Shadows [Hardcover]

Michelle Spring (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 14, 1998

The shocking murder lingered in the tabloids for weeks. A sweet elderly lady viciously killed in a town outside Cambridge, her skull crushed with a concrete block by her eleven-year-old foster child, Daryll Flatt. Hideous as the crime was, the case was closed when the boy, curled up in the crack of a willow tree, confessed to the murder. Now, two years later, the boys older brother, Howard, hires private investigator Laura Principal to revisit the case--and to answer the baffling question: Why?

On the surface, Daryll fit the mold of a child murderer perfectly--a hopeless boy abused and cast off by a wretched family. Yet as Laura Principal probes deeper, several curious facts reveal themselves. Perhaps the most alarming piece of evidence never addressed in court--Daryll was particularly agitated the day before the murder. When confronted by his teacher, he confessed: Its a secret. And Im the only one who knows.

For Laura, each question raises another, and each version of events offers conflicting views of the "heartless" boy and his "saintly" foster parent. And with each step closer to the truth, Laura Principal senses someone in the corner of her eye, a threatening presence . . . standing in the shadows . . . watching her every move.

Writing with the sparkling intelligence and razor-sharp wit that readers have come to cherish, Michelle Spring unveils a novel that is both stylish and spellbinding. Standing in the Shadows reaches new heights of psychological suspens--and heart-pounding menace.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In Standing in the Shadows, Michelle Spring's third novel about Laura Principal, Cambridge-based private eye, the detective investigates the brutal murder of a widow at the hands of her 11-year old foster child. Daryll Flatt was convicted of crushing Geraldine King's skull with a barrage of rocks and concrete blocks. As a police detective on the case puts it, "This was a Chicken Little kind of death. The sky fell in." Two years after the murder, Daryll's older brother hires Principal to learn more about why he did it. As she interviews the boy's neighbors, social workers, and relatives about his character, Principal begins to notice that a) most people thought the boy was hyperactive and disturbed but not homicidal, and b) the men she talks with liked the widow, but the women generally did not. Along the way, Principal learns more than she wanted to know about the messy lives of the well-kept denizens of Cambridge. She meets nosy, vitriolic neighbors, men who are unkind to their wives, and a fellow in a gorilla suit who exposes himself to young children. And yes, she begins to get the distinct feeling that she is being followed.

The story is an engrossing one, and Laura Principal is good company. She's a thoughtful, observant narrator who has entertaining friends and coworkers. There's not much action in this book, but there is plenty of suspense, thanks to the odd assortment of characters Spring has created. Initially, none of these characters appear to be particularly suspicious (except the man in the ape outfit), but most of them have done something horribly wrong. Principal doesn't want to believe that a little boy could murder a nice old lady. She can't understand why people are so awful to one another. She keeps asking herself, Why would a person hurt another person like that? That's a pretty compelling question. -Jill Marquis

From Kirkus Reviews

Nobody ever said Daryll Flatt's life was any bed of roses. By the time he was 11, he'd already been deserted by his abusive father, abandoned by the brother who said he loved him but took off for a job in Australia anyway, and bereaved of the grandmother who'd taken him in. But does any of that excuse his bashing in the head of Geraldine King, the temporary foster mother his social worker had placed him with? Now that Daryll, who unhesitatingly confessed to the Cambridge police, has served 18 months of his sentence, Howard Flatt, back from Australia, wants inquiry agent Laura Principal to find out why the boy killed his guardian. What makes a child kill? asks Laura, whose scant experience (Every Breath You Take, 1994) has done nothing to prepare her for this case. Luckily, the investigators Q-and-A with Geraldine's uncordial neighbors and Daryll's uncaring relatives will be broken up by distractionsan unexpected brush with her partner Sonny Mendlowiz's latest divorce case, an attempt to track down the flasher who's been menacing her friend Helen Cochrane's daughterthat will end up throwing unexpected light on Geraldine's murder. Highly competent parboiled British detective work, even if a crucial few of the dramatis personae remain muffled. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 287 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1st edition (April 14, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345424913
• ISBN-13: 978-0345424914
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,862,078 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars CHILD'S PLAY, February 19, 2003

By 

Michael Butts (Berkeley Springs, WV USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Standing in the Shadows (Mass Market Paperback)

This is my first Michelle Spring novel, and it is a very well-done effort. It's heavily "British" in its pacing and characterizations, but Spring's prose has verve and bite, sprinkled with some humorous moments as well. Little Darryl - did he really kill his foster mother so viciously? He says he did, and so he's been incarcerated for two years. His older brother approaches PI Laura Principal to find out not if his little brother did the deed, but WHY? Laura's fascination and dedication involve her in some dark family secrets and some other interesting characters. Principal is a fresh heroine, one with a heart and a sense of commitment. The villain is a surprise in some ways and the rationale in its solution quite believable. A good book; will definitely try the remaining ones in the series.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sensitive handling of a difficult subject, March 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Standing in the Shadows (Mass Market Paperback)

Crimes committed by children are a subject we all naturally find disturbing, but this latest instalment in Michelle Spring's Laura Principal series handles the topic with sensitivity, care and real empathy. There is nothing sensationalistic or superficial about this book, and as with the rest of the series, even minor characters emerge as real, well-rounded people. You find yourself guessing - did Daryll do it? Why did he do it? If not him, then who else might have done it and why? As with human nature, nothing is as simple as it appears on the surface, but you are kept in suspense as the plot is tightly controlled and elegantly resolved. My favorite in a series that just gets better and better.