THE HUNT FOR RICHARD THORPE

Twelve year old Richard Thorpe, home for the holidays with his father (he is motherless) and his extremely pretty sister, Amaryllis, disappears- shortly after the presumed murder of a child in a nearby village. Piers Linley, a London newspaperman, whose interest in the case is substantially strengthened by his attraction to Amaryllis, proves to be not only the Thorpes' main support in the days of uncertainty and anguish to follow- but also an imaginative interpreter of the little he has to go on hunches rather than clues. While in the background, the new owners of the village pub, the malevolent Skinners and Mrs. Skinner's coarse lover who ""travels in brushes"", help to distract the reader and delay the outcome of the hunt for Richard Thorpe....A thoroughly agreeable diversion, in which pleasing landscapes from England to Ireland, engaging youngsters (Richard- and his friend Bulstrode Minor), a sunny romance all add a gentle glow to the anxious moments at hand.