MURDER BE HANGED

This time out, Detective Superintendent George Rogers (Daphne Dead and Done For, 1991, etc.) is called to investigate a shooting incident at Towerhouse, home of Rachel Sloane Horsbrugh, her teenaged son Willie, and second husband Colonel Henry Horsbrugh. Mrs. Horsbrugh runs a language school on the premises with help from twentysomething Daniel Skinner and a couple of women teachers, all living in the tower. Shots from outside have apparently been fired at Mrs. Horsbrugh as she sat in her living room, missing their target. Meanwhile, Colonel Horsbrugh has disappeared, and Willie Sloane, home on school vacation, seems convinced that the Colonel is out to kill his mother. There are deep and dirty waters here, ending in a high body count and explored in the author's usual fussy, repetitive style. The boring details of Roger's persona—clothes, pipes, hormones— get almost equal time in this self-indulgent exercise.