A Timely Death: A Francesca Wilson Mystery [Paperback]

Janet Neel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1997

MysteryLarge Print EditionWilliam Price, under investigation for his dealings in Spanish holiday condos, is found hanged, dressed in womens underwear. His untimely death yields insurance bonanzas for his second wife and his business partner, and prevents his son Dr. Antony Prices inheritance from being frittered away on his defense. Before this case is solved, fraud, assault, battery, adultery and finally, murder are revealed in an explosive and riveting read.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Plumbing the troubled waters of the relations between men and women in her fifth Francesca Wilson story (after Death Among the Dons), Neel delivers a clear-eyed view of both domestic conflict, which hovers over Francesca's marriage, and domestic violence, which haunts the crime she solves. Volunteering at a women's shelter during an outbreak of measles, Francesca is grateful for the medical training of the most recent client, Annabelle Brewster, who has fled her violent lover, Dr. Antony Price. Matthew Sutherland, the shelter's lawyer, is anxious to take Annabelle's case-but he can't when he learns that his firm represented Antony's stepmother in a similar case of domestic violence against her husband (Antony's father), William. Francesca's husband, John McLeish, now Detective Chief Superintendent at New Scotland Yard, bumps into the Price family from another angle: his ex-lover, also a copper, is investigating fraud at William Price's time-share vacation business. When William Price is found hanging in his kitchen and money is missing from the safe, the police focus on two suspects: Price's second son, a drug addict, and an MP who wanted #20,000 the dead man had been holding for him. Neel covers a spectrum of intimate relations-battered women returning to their lovers; happily married people teetering on the edge of infidelity; lovers driven to extreme actions by obsession, libido or deviousness-with admirable nuance, carving psychological texture into this skillfully plotted mystery.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Francesca Wilson is an unwilling superwoman. On top of managing her demanding family and a fragile marriage, she is forced to take over at a local women's shelter when her mother becomes ill. One of her first clients is a young woman abused by her live-in partner, an ambitious doctor called Antony Price. Coincidence will soon connect the abusive Dr. Price with a murder that Francesca's copper husband, John, is investigating. The murder victim is Dr. Price's father, who is found hanged, his bloated body attired in sleazy women's underclothing. The hot-tempered Dr. Price is accused of the murder, but before the real killer is found, John and Francesca find both their detecting skills and their marriage put to the test. Neel's latest is a sophisticated and cerebral mystery with dark overtones and plenty of unexpected twists. Emily Melton --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 354 pages
• Publisher: G K Hall & Co (June 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0783881401
• ISBN-13: 978-0783881409
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,008,006 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Undistinguished, September 3, 2000

By 

Author Bill Peschel "Writers Gone Wild" (Hershey, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Timely Death: A Francesca Wilson Mystery (Paperback)

Spousal abuse and adultery runs alongside the red thread of murder through Janet Neel's latest in her series about the British detecting duo of Francesca Wilson and John McLeish.

As the newly promoted chief detective superintendent, McLeish is called in to investigate the death of a man who was launched into eternity, found hanging from his kitchen ceiling while wearing women's underwear. The case is sensitive in a number of ways: the victim was co-owner of a company selling time-shares to its hotels in Majorca and being investigated by the Fraud Squad, and one of the suspects is a member of Parliament.

But William Price's proved timely for a number of other suspects as well. The payout from his life insurance policy would keep the police away and save the business that threatens to sink his wife and business partner. It would also his two sons' trust fund that he raided to pay bills for expensive houses, a yacht, and other perks.

All of this would not have involved Francesca, except that Annabelle, the girlfriend of one of the sons, checks into the women's shelter where she's working. As she's counseling her, she also becomes involved with the shelter's attorney, a handsome young man who sparks a number of conflicting feelings in her. McLeish is tempted on the job as well when a former flame is charged with investigating the company.

"A Timely Death" has the possibility of turning into a very hot book, part soap opera, part mystery, but we end up with a cool, conventional story that doesn't seem to make much of an effort to distinguish itself. Francesca's estrangement from her husband due to his long hours seems shallow and unconvincing, and makes her a unlikable lead. Left to his own devices, John is a cipher, meaning the suspects have to carry the load. Only the Annabelle's growth as a character, the competent doctor dealing with her bullying boyfriend, gives "A Timely Death" its emotional power.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars When good couples go bad, February 6, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: A Timely Death (Hardcover)

Spousal abuse and adultery runs alongside the red thread of murder through Janet Neel's latest in her series about the British detecting duo of Francesca Wilson and John McLeish.
"A Timely Death" has the possibility of turning into a very hot book, part soap opera, part mystery, but we end up with a cool, conventional story that doesn't seem to make much of an effort to distinguish itself. Francesca's estrangement from her husband due to his long hours seems shallow and unconvincing, and makes her a unlikable lead. Left to his own devices, John is a cipher, meaning the suspects have to carry the load. Only the one of the characters, a female physician learning to escape an abusive boyfriend, gives "A Timely Death" its emotional power.

-- Bill Peschel

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Soap opera plot cool to the taste, August 31, 2000

By 

Author Bill Peschel "Writers Gone Wild" (Hershey, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Timely Death: A Francesca Wilson Mystery (Paperback)

Spousal abuse and adultery runs alongside the red thread of murder in Janet Neel's latest in her series about the British detecting duo of Francesca Wilson and John McLeish.

As the newly promoted chief detective superintendent, McLeish is called in to investigate the death of a man who was launched into eternity, found hanging from his kitchen ceiling while wearing women's underwear. The case is sensitive in a number of ways: the victim was co-owner of a company selling time-shares to its hotels in Majorca and being investigated by the Fraud Squad, and one of the suspects is a member of Parliament.

But William Price's death proved timely for other suspects as well. The payout from his life insurance policy would keep the police away and save the business that threatens to sink his wife and business partner. It would also boost his two sons trust fund, which he raided to pay for expensive houses, a yacht and other perks.

All of this would not have involved Francesca except that Annabelle, the girlfriend of one of the sons, checks into the women's shelter where she's working. As she's counseling her, she also becomes involved with the shelter's attorney, a handsome young man who sparks a number of conflicting feelings in her. McLeish is tempted on the job as well when a former flame is charged with investigating the company.

"A Timely Death" has the possibility of turning into a very hot book, part soap opera, part mystery, but we end up with a cool, conventional story that doesn't seem to make much of an effort to distinguish itself. Francesca's estrangement from her husband due to his long hours seems shallow and unconvincing, and makes her an unlikable lead. Alone, John is more cipher than character, forcing the suspects to carry the load. Only Annabelle's growth as a character, as the competent doctor trying to escape an abusive relationship, gives "A Timely Death" its emotional power.