THE BITTER BITE

The police know who raped Penelope Hurst: Edward Burrell, a malcontented electrician working on her parents' London house. But all the circumstantial evidence against Burrell can't top the alibi the coppers are unable to break. So Penny's well-to-do boyfriend Calvin Slade persuades his loyal public-school mate Timothy Rees, still in love with Penny himself, to join him in bullying a confession out of Burrell. Except that Calvin gets carried away, threats of torture turn into the real thing, and suddenly Calvin and Tim are in the same position as Burrell—with an alibi far more susceptible to a police force ironically far more intent on breaking it. Though short on surprise, Ashford's 32nd thriller (Judgment Deferred, 1994, etc.) is gripping from the opening scene; the author knows everything there is to know about this sorry lot.