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DEATH IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING by Stella Phillips

DEATH IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING

By

Pub Date: Feb. 1st, 1982
Publisher: Walker

Showy George Shannon and his slovenly wife Laura live up to every penny he makes, in a converted old police-station in the quiet town of Elmbridge. Nearby lives George's irascible, supposedly rich Aunt Grace, with cowed companion Annie Bennett--and a collection of china figures of questionable pedigree. But when Auntie is found murdered, there's more than the usual investigation trouble. . . because the first man on the case is doddering Sergeant Wainwright, whose strength does not lie in tidy recordkeeping. Sergeant Cantwell soon takes over, then, but he needs help. So: enter, most welcomely, Inspector Matthew Furnival (The Hidden Wrath, p. 906)--who soon gets nowhere interviewing the Shannons, the companion, the local antiques dealer, and Grace's runaway gardener. But Furnival eventually gets to the bottom of things--by delving into the past. . . and into Wainwright's sloppy filing system. Crisply styled, smartly plotted, with a neat final twist and the distinctive police-muddle sidelight: another solidly satisfying arrival from a bright newcomer.