THE CHIEF INSPECTOR'S DAUGHTER

by Sheila Radley ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 1, 1980

The Chief Inspector is Suffolk copper Douglas Quantrill (Death in the Morning, 1979), and his daughter is 19-year-old Alison--who, home after a rotten love affair in London, becomes secretary to local celebrity Jasmine Woods, author of historical romances. So it's Alison who discovers the body when sexy Jasmine is bashed with one bottle and raped with another. And while Quantrill and racy sidekick Tait make the rounds of suspects--Jasmine's cousin (an envious, overage Angry Young Playwright), her druggy gardener (who has disappeared, along with some Japanese treasures), her ex-husband, her ex-secretary, her antique dealer--Alison takes the murder very hard indeed and even disappears (into a commune) for a while. . . before realizing that she has the key clue to the mystery. The solution here is easily guessed (especially since Death in the Morning turned on the same brand of sexual secret); and, as before, Radley seems to be on P. D. James territory--Alison has a sexual identity crisis, Quantrill and wife Molly sort out their sex life--without James' depth or sophistication. Still: well-above-average British procedural, crisply styled (except for some stiff, maiden-aunty moments) and tightly paced.

Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1980

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Scribners

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1980

Categories: FICTION