ROSEMARY FOR REMEMBRANCE

by June Thomson ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1988

More drolly old-fashioned than most of the somber, psychological cases for low-key, lonely Inspector Jack Rudd, this mystery has a traditional sort of setting--a creative-writing summer school--and a ninth-hated, eminently killable murder victim in the classic mold. This inevitable target is handsome, selfish bisexual Jake Nolan, a writer-director who spends his summers teaching playwriting to the adult students at the Morton Grange School. Jake is disliked by fellow teachers Ron Arnott (an aging wreck) and Harriet Wade (whom Jake coolly seduced and dropped the previous summer). He's been blackmailing the school's director, Bernard Livesey, with supposed evidence that Livesey's criticism caused a writer's suicide. Furthermore, Jake's current summer-mistress, the school cook, is madly adored by the school's gloomy gardener. And rich, effete dilettante Leon Murray has returned as a student for a second summer--hoping to win back Jake's (opportunistic) affections. So, when Jake is found dead in the school pool, suspects abound. But why is mild-mannered, middle-aged student Frank Goodyear also found dead, carbon-monoxided in the school garage? And why--in apparent reference to Hamlet--did someone strew rosemary on one body and pansies on the other? Despite the half-predictable, half-unconvincing solution: another solid, modest Thomson effort, with an uncharacteristically humorous tilt--and tiny hints of new romance for the lovelorn Inspector.

Pub Date: May 1, 1988

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1988

Categories: FICTION