DEATH IN THE MORNING

by Sheila Radley ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 1979

Morose, acerbic, middle-aged Chief Inspector Douglas Quantrill is not the most original village detective to come out of England lately. But his debut case--the drowning murder of a bright and beautiful 18-year-old--touches on so many sharply drawn, intriguing characters that most low-key readers will follow Quantrill right along to a resonant, if somewhat bizarre, solution. This rich supporting cast includes both coppers (an overambitious, smart-aleck type) and suspects--the girl's religious-fanatic mother; her envious brother (he's a chicken-plucker while his sister is headed for Cambridge); her teachers, and her would-be boyfriends. True, Radley doesn't do much to liven up the familiar suspect-by-suspect detection format--and she works rather too hard at Quantrill's midlife angst. But the village atmosphere is shrewdly churned, the dialogue is rich in nuance, and detection readers who look primarily for mood and character will be well satisfied by this poor-man's P. D. James--from a writer who may well find a more thoroughly distinctive voice in the future.

Pub Date: June 1, 1979

ISBN: 1933397462

Page Count: -

Publisher: Scribners

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1979

Categories: FICTION