Death by Election (Hardcover)

by Patricia Hall (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
That quintessentially British institution, the brief, hotly contested by-election, forms the background for Hall's drama, in which an explosive combination of electoral and sexual politics engenders blackmail, suicide, and murder. Two complex protagonists are at the center of the tale: enigmatic Chief Inspector Michael Thackeray, newly arrived in Bradfield in the north of England, and city native Laura Ackroyd, a reporter for a Tory paper who is sympathetic to Labour because its parliamentary candidate was her college sociology tutor--and because her beloved grandmother has long been a party activist. While the local university's Gay and Lesbian Front debates "outing" closeted establishment types, Thackeray investigates the murder on a nearby moor of a former sociology student and the suicide of an eminently respectable Tory leader, and Ackroyd struggles to balance her personal and professional responsibilities. Hall, an investigative reporter and author of The Poisoned Pool (1993), has planted the seeds of a complex, involving series in this thoughtful procedural. Mary Carroll

From Kirkus Reviews
The death of the long-ailing Member for Bradfield launches sociologist Richard Thurston, his heir-apparent, into the political limelight. But another, more sinister death the same day--the murder of AIDS-stricken Harvey Lingard, Richard's old student who's come home from London to a nearby village to die (though not as soon as he did)--casts Richard's candidacy into the gravest peril. Jason Carpenter, head of the local Gay and Lesbian Front, has compiled a list of gay public figures the Front plans to out, and Richard, who's had affairs with both Harvey and Jason, heads the list. The police are convinced that Richard, who's been submitting to blackmail for years, not only killed Harvey but also offed features writer Rob Stevens, who was covering the Front's activities while trying to keep his own sexual orientation secret. Inspector Michael Thackeray is only waiting until after the election to arrest him. So it's up to Rob's editor, Laura Ackroyd, who studied with Harvey under Richard, to dig up whatever evidence she can that exonerates Richard--and keep his fading hopes of election for Bradfield alive. Though she never decides whether Laura is a detective or a spin doctor, Hall (The Poison Pool, 1993) produces a satisfyingly ugly study of English local politics. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 249 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st U S edition (September 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312114613
• ISBN-13: 978-0312114619
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,870,173 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great start to the fabulous Yorkshire series, June 29, 2006

By	Maryland Reader "marylandreadr" (MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Death by Election (Paperback)

If you like British police procedurals, you'll love this series. Michael Thackeray is an intense, haunted DCI who finds himself attracted to a dynamic journalist, Laura Ackroyd, in a working class mill town in Yorkshire.

Their attraction (and later romance)is the counterpoint to these well written procedurals. Patricia Hall catches the wonderful social nuances of class and culture in Bradfield. This is a great introduction to a wonderful series. The mystery to me is why I never heard of this author until recently. The series is uniformly well-written and they are equal to or superior to some better known British mystery writers including Elizabeth George.

Give it a try. I think you'll thoroughly enjoy yourself.