An Uncommon Murder - Hardcover

Donald, Anabel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312089171 ISBN 13: 9780312089177

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 1993

Synopsis

Forty years ago, London society was riveted by the shooting death of Lord Sherwin, murdered during a hunt ball at his lavish country estate. Although suspicion fell on Sherwin's beautiful wife, Laura, the case remained unsolved. Now free-lance television researcher Alex Tanner has a chance to land her first big scoop after a chance encounter with the aging Miss Potter, retired governess to the Sherwin children and guest at the fateful ball.
But the retired governess will only tell her story if Alex does her a favor in return: find the missing Zara Mayfield, eighteen-year-old granddaughter of Lord Sherwin. Desperate to get the story, Alex reluctantly agrees, but soon begins to doubt the usefulness of her source. Is Miss Potter merely a lonely old lady delighted to have an audience for her fantasies at last? But as the parallel investigations into Zara's disappearance and Sherwin's murder continue, Miss Potter reveals unexpected depths - while Alex is poised to uncover a terrible secret kept hidden for a generation, and to unmask a killer desperate to keep the truth under wraps.

About this title

About the Author

Anabel Donald has been writing fiction since 1982 when her first novel, Hannah at Thirty-five, was published to great critical acclaim. Most recently, she has written the five Alex Tanner crime novels in the "Notting Hill series.

From Publishers Weekly

This shrewd, unsentimental mystery features a multipart denouement, masterfully extended and deftly manipulated to segue into an examination of a family gone awry. In November 1990, plucky London-based television researcher Alex Tanner begins to investigate the decades-old unsolved murder of Lord Sherwin; she relies on the assistance (or is it manipulation?) of the former governess to the nobleman's children. Tanner interrogates such suspects as Sherwin's cold wife, their icy daughter, a fading actor, a nubile niece and even the governess herself before a sudden, unexpected confession abruptly terminates her work. Tanner believes the confession, with reservations, but then Sherwin's granddaughter goes missing and the emotional balance of the book subtly shifts. Sad details about Alex's childhood emerge as her hard-boiled exterior, which she has developed through copious readings of American crime fiction, starts to crack, and small crimes of coldness and cruelty replace the larger ones of murder and passion. Donald's ( Poor Dear Charlotte ) young, street-smart female sleuth, a rare breed in contemporary British crime fiction, is an appealing protagonist.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: St Martins Pr
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0312089171
• ISBN 13: 9780312089177
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 217