THIS IS YOUR DEATH

Geoffry Wallis--writer, playwright, TV personality--is one of those irascible egotists who just beg to become the murder victim in a traditional British mystery. His turned-off wife Julia is finding comfort in a not-very-secret affair with a neighbor. His daughter Anne has defied her father by engaging herself to Chris Slater (son of historian Maurice, Geoffry's long-ago childhood chum). And then Geoffry's brother Lionel shows up, apparently with some blackmail in mind. Thus, it's not terribly surprising when Geoffry turns up shot to death, with Lionel soon arrested for murder. But Superintendent Caswell believes that Lionel is innocent--a theory which is confirmed when Maurice Slater looks into Geoffry's unsavory past on a trip to Austria. Complex but disjointed, with pallid characters and minimal suspense: a disappointing finale to the often impressive career of the late Dominic Devine (Sunk Without Trace, My Brother's Killer, etc.).