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THIEF TAKER by Alan Scholefield

THIEF TAKER

by Alan Scholefield

Pub Date: Sept. 25th, 1992
ISBN: 0-312-08320-3
Publisher: St. Martin's

London coppers Macrae (twice-divorced, self-educated, anti- authoritarian) and Silver (yuppified, living with but not quite ready to marry Zoe) are called in when wealthy tycoon Robson Healey is murdered at home. His estranged wife seems relieved, while his plain-Jane daughter, living in a gypsy caravan in the country where she paints ominous pictures of giant red bunnies, seems more distraught that her boyfriend Christopher is gone. Meanwhile, a new supervisor is hassling Macrae about his drinking, and a furloughed con, Ronnie Purvis, is stalking Zoe and Silver, who were responsible for sending him away for attempted rape. Everyone's sex life comes into question, including the victim's, his widow's, his daughter's, the rapist's, and even Silver's and Macrae's, before another murder is revealed, an old family secret is bared, and Zoe and Silver, face-to-face with Healey's slayer, are suddenly confronted with their former nemesis—with bloody results. As in Dirty Weekend (1991), the irascible Macrae and upwardly mobile Silver are more interesting than the somewhat contrived plot. But readers looking for a British procedural with some psychological bite might give this a try.