Absent Friends - Hardcover

Linscott, Gillian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312207654 ISBN 13: 9780312207656

Publisher: Minotaur Books, 1999

Synopsis

December 1918. The vote has been won at long last, the Great War is over and suffragette Nell Bray is standing for election. Everything seems to be falling into place for the dedicated activist. Yet, with a month to go to the first general election, Nell is still without party backing, writing desperately to friends and contacts to drum up support for her cause. Further, the former Conservative candidate has been blown up by a firework while celebrating the Armistice, his widow is certain that he's sending her messages about his killer through a haunted piano, and at least one person in the constituency has a murderous hatred of all politicians. To add to Nell's troubles, two men from her checkered past are home from the war.

Nell finds herself in the middle of a baffling case, with the odds most definitely against her--both for election victory and survival. The suffragette turned amateur sleuth must then show a dedication to the truth as strong as her loyalty to women's rights to solve the mystery and come out on top.

About this title

About the Author

Gillian Linscott was a journalist and BBC Radio parliamentary correspondent before turning to full-time writing. She now lives near the Welsh borders with her husband, Tony Geraghty, where she is able to indulge in her passions for horse riding and hill-walking.

From Publishers Weekly

In 1918, 17 women stood as candidates in the first general election in England in which women could vote. In her eighth Nell Bray adventure (following 1998's Dance On Blood), Linscott adds her fictional heroine to their number. The months following the end of WWI are hardly an auspicious time for women to enter the political arena, for the Tories and Liberals that ran the government together during the war have decided to put up Coalition candidates instead of competing against one another. But Nell would run for a seat in Parliament anyway, if she had the money. Her wish is unexpectedly answered when an affluent widow offers to fund her campaign on the condition that Nell look into the sudden death of her husband, who was blown to bits by a suspiciously powerful firecracker. Lucinda Sollers believes her deceased ex, who was the Coalition's candidate for MP, was murdered by the local potato farmer who usurped his place on the ballot. So Nell heads off to Duxbury (near the Welsh border) with her ally and former lover, Bill Musgrave, for an election campaign and an investigation. Both prove dangerousAand exciting, as Linscott captures the bustling activity of political work as well as the intricacies of Nell and Bill's sleuthing. Complicating matters is the slow rekindling of the duo's relationship, after a four-year hiatus. The campaign is marred by more than the usual minor violence, with attacks directed at all the candidates; a cruel hoax also figures in, before the election is concluded and the mystery solved. Linscott successfully animates rural Duxbury with a bevy of curious charactersAtanners, farmers, magistrates, etc. Her deft blend of social and cultural history with artful mystery makes for another worthy entry in a solid series.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0312207654
• ISBN 13: 9780312207656
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288