From Publishers Weekly
Solicitor Helen West and Detective Chief Superintendent Geoffrey Bailey, first encountered in A Question of Guilt , must solve a murder while learning whether their newfound love can last. The body of a local woman, wife of a prominent builder, is found buried in a woods near the village of Branston, where Helen and Bailey have moved for a year to become better acquainted. Evidence quickly leads Bailey to the victim's former lover, a teacher who now is romantically linked with Helen's only friend in the village. Because of her personal involvement, Helen is barred from the case, despite her position in the Crown Prosecution Service. Investigating privately, however--over Bailey's objections--Helen is drawn to the Crown Hotel, meeting place of the lovers, with its argumentative and unhappy proprietors and retarded teenage son, who is a friend of the murdered woman's daughter. There she makes a shocking discovery leading to a tragic denouement. Fyfield writes a sophisticated combination of legal and police procedural, drawing a compelling portrait of a love affair between two adults who have to accept each other's reality before forging a life together.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
With an unusually keen and sympathetic eye for character description and development, Fyfield follows Detective Chief Superintendent Geoffrey Bailey and live-in companion solicitor Helen West ( A Question of Guilt ) to the village of Branston, just outside London, where the two become enmeshed in a murder of passion that threatens their own relationship. Bailey's quest takes him from the accused lover of Helen's only local friend to the precocious daughter of the murdered woman and the "village idiot." Smartly constructed plot, strongly defined sense of place, and overall emphasis on character make this a satisfying work indeed.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
