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Fortunately, Airth's first sequel was worth the six-year wait. The Blood-Dimmed Tide (which takes its title from a W.B. Yeats poem) finds Madden now retired and living peacefully on a farm in Surrey with his doctor wife, the former Helen Blackwell, and their two children, 10-year-old Rob and 6-year-old Lucy. The year is 1932, and the precipitous rise of the Nazis in Germany leaves many of their fellow countrymen, as well as no few Brits, worried for the future peace and stability of the European continent. More immediately concerning for Madden, however, is his discovery of the corpse of pubescent Alice Bridger--raped, disfigured, and secreted near a tramps' backwoods campsite. Suspicion falls quickly on a vagrant known as Beezy, who was supposedly visiting the area, but Madden--with his remarkable insight into crime ("Madden's always had a way of seeing things clearly, of seeing through them, or rather beyond them," relates a former police colleague)--thinks this is more than an isolated homicide. Sure enough, a records check turns up similar slayings elsewhere in England, dating back to 1929, as well as an active investigation by German law enforcement into half a dozen dead girls in Bavaria and Prussia. What accounts for both the wide range of these mutilations, and the lengthy lag time between them? Could the police be looking for a psychopathic traveler, or worse, a rogue spy who's managed to maintain a respectable front at his international postings, while satisfying his malevolent appetites in his spare hours? And what is the "devil’s mark" that this killer reportedly bears?
Airth is a fastidious plotter, expert in trickling out twists that heighten story tension but don't leave readers awash in red herrings. Although Madden's role here is somewhat less than it was in River of Darkness--a consequence of his strong-willed wife trying to protect him from further hurt, after the horrendous events of that previous tale--the author compensates by giving us a supporting cast of amply dimensioned Yard types, led by Chief Inspector Angus Sinclair, a perceptive Scot whose doggedness pairs well with Madden's gift for inspiration. While Airth fails, oddly, to exploit a couple of opportunities for interesting plot turns at book's end, his psychological portrait of the murderer imbues Tide with a fine pathos, and the backdrop of Nazi power-grabbing sets the stage for what is supposed to be a third and final Madden yarn. Let’s hope that novel appears in more expeditious fashion. --J. Kingston Pierce
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Book Description Condition: Very Good. Used book that is in excellent condition. May show signs of wear or have minor defects. Seller Inventory # 4817042-75
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 1.02. Seller Inventory # G0333904109I3N00
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Good. Seller Inventory # SONG0333904109
Book Description paperback. Condition: Good. Unabridged edition. Seller Inventory # FORT444235
Book Description Trade Paperback. Condition: Near Fine. No Jacket. First Edition, First Printing. The book is near fine with slight edge wear. Seller Inventory # 003787
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Good. All orders are dispatched the following working day from our UK warehouse. Established in 2004, we have over 500,000 books in stock. No quibble refund if not completely satisfied. Seller Inventory # mon0005685710
Book Description Trade Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Trade Paperback. 340 pages. *** PUBLISHING DETAILS: Macmillan, London, 2001. *** CONDITION: This book is in very good condition. More specifically: Covers have no creasing. Edges of covers have superficial wear. Spine is uncreased. . Pages are lightly tanned. *** ABOUT THIS BOOK: It is 1932 and John Madden, former Scotland Yard Inspector, is now a farmer in the peaceful Surrey countryside. However his peace is about to be shattered, for when a young girl goes missing, it is he who discovers her disfigured body hidden in a wood. Disturbed by what he has seen he is convinced the killer has struck before.When a second body is found, Madden's instinct is proved right - there is a multiple killer at large. Allying himself with his old colleagues, and against the wishes of his anxious wife, he immerses himself in one more case, and his insights into the personality of the man they are seeking are soon borne out. Self-taught in a world of secret agents, this psychopath is a master of reinvention who has been covering his tracks for many years. The investigation leads to Germany. The Nazis are on the brink of power. The killer has so far eluded the German police. And the mutilated bodies he has left in his wake are just a shocking foretaste of the horrors to come. *** Quantity Available: 1. Category: Fiction; Crime; ISBN: 0333904109. ISBN/EAN: 9780333904107. Inventory No: 13070112. The photo of this book is of the actual book for sale. Seller Inventory # 13070112
Book Description Soft cover. Condition: NF. Murder mystery set in 1932 Britain. Seller Inventory # 1087119
Book Description Soft cover. Condition: NF. Murder mystery set in 1932 Britain. Seller Inventory # 1132127