MR. FRED

by John Buxton Hilton ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 5, 1983

Hilton, recently active with contemporary Supt. Kenworthy, now returns to his period detective--Inspector Brunt--but in an unusual, effective format: the reminiscing narrator is Kathy Palmer, nÉe Hollinshead, now in her eighties, who takes us back to her growing-up years before World War I. Kathy recalls the cold, comfortless life on her father's rented farm in Derbyshire: harsh, taciturn parents; eight squabbling brothers and sisters. She remembers her father's friend Fred Needham--who, accused of child molestation and murder, but believed to be innocent by the Hollinsheads (especially adoring Kathy), hides out at the farm, on the run from Inspector Brunt. And she recalls the tragic upshot of Brunt's investigation: ""Mr. Fred"" is killed. . . and Kathy's brother William goes to the gallows for the clime. But only over the years, and now, in the present, does Kathy at last fill in the gaps and puzzles in her recollections--arriving at last at the full truth. Flagging slightly at the end, but otherwise a deft, sensitive period-piece: a welcome return to the textured Derbyshire-world of Hilton's Dead-Nettle (1977).

Pub Date: May 5, 1983

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1983

Categories: FICTION