Verdict Unsafe - Hardcover

Jill McGown

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0449910679 ISBN 13: 9780449910672

Publisher: Fawcett Columbine, 1997

Synopsis

Jill McGown's subtle and compelling mysteries depict men and women whose dance to the music of passion sometimes leads to murder. In Verdict Unsafe, McGown once again evokes the gritty East Midlands inhabited by Detective Inspector Judy Hill and her supervisor and lover, Detective Chief Inspector Lloyd. But this time, Judy's career, her relationship with Lloyd, and even her life are imperiled by the whims of an arrogant young predator.

Four young women. Four horrific rapes. Committed by a man who calls himself the "Stealth Bomber." Colin Arthur Drummond--a privileged young man from Malworth--now stands accused of these crimes. And watching his trial from the public gallery, Detective Inspector Judy Hill cannot forget his chilling description of a fifth unreported rape. Or his threat that she is to be his sixth victim.

In court Drummond denies all charges, his lawyer, "Hotshot" Harper claiming police corruption and brutality.  But the prosecution has an open-and-shut case: he had been caught in the act by two independent witnesses, and they have a DNA profile that proves he is the rapist. What could go wrong?

Something does. For sixteen months later, Colin Drummond is out on the streets, threatening Judy again. And as Judy sets out to prove his guilt for the second time--and save her own job--Detective Chief Inspector Lloyd is called to a horrifying scene. It appears Colin Drummond has picked his next victim. . . .

As always in a Jill McGown novel, nothing is simple. And no one is safe.

About this title

About the Author

A native of Argyll, Scotland, Jill McGown has lived in Corby, England, since she was ten. She wrote her first novel, A Perfect Match, in 1983. Nine others have followed, including Gone to Her Death, Murder at the Old Vicarage, Murder . . . Now and Then, The Murders of Mrs. Austin and Mrs. Beale, The Other Woman, and A Shred of Evidence.

From the Inside Flap

s subtle and compelling mysteries depict men and women whose dance to the music of passion sometimes leads to murder. In Verdict Unsafe, McGown once again evokes the gritty East Midlands inhabited by Detective Inspector Judy Hill and her supervisor and lover, Detective Chief Inspector Lloyd. But this time, Judy's career, her relationship with Lloyd, and even her life are imperiled by the whims of an arrogant young predator.

Four young women. Four horrific rapes. Committed by a man who calls himself the "Stealth Bomber." Colin Arthur Drummond--a privileged young man from Malworth--now stands accused of these crimes. And watching his trial from the public gallery, Detective Inspector Judy Hill cannot forget his chilling description of a fifth unreported rape. Or his threat that she is to be his sixth victim.

In court Drummond denies all charges, his lawyer, "Hotshot" Harper claiming police corruption and brutality. But the prosecution has an open-

Reviews

Two years after the open-and-shut case against Colin Drummond came apart--despite a DNA match on the second of four rapes and a pair of eyewitnesses to the fourth--Drummond is free on a technicality. The new, not-guilty Drummond splits his time between preparing a lawsuit against the coppers who took him in- -he's not assuaged by the fact that two of them have already been tossed off the force for beating him--and harassing Judy Hill, the inspector whose evidence really would've put him away (he confessed a fifth, unreported rape to her in numbing detail and marked her as his sixth victim) if his canny lawyer hadn't gotten it thrown out. On reopening the case, Chief Inspector Lloyd, Judy's boss/lover, finds disturbing new evidence that contradicts Judy's story of the unreported rape. He can't believe she'd lie, but his higher-ups in the Stansfield CID have no such problem. Meantime, Judy herself has started to dig up evidence throwing a much deeper shadow on the ``Malworth Mafia''--the officers who allegedly set Drummond up. As the other victims in this sorry drama struggle to get on with their lives--one victim, a prostitute, has married a savior who's pimping her to the husband of a second victim who can't face sex with his wife anymore, while a third victim has given up and killed herself--the news comes that another victim has been found, raped and murdered. And the killing has only just begun. For once, McGown (A Shred of Evidence, 1996, etc.) has set forth a case as gripping as its people--from the key clue buried in the opening sentence to the dizzying complications still being spun out moments before the final curtain. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

In an English Midlands town, Colin Drummond, known as "the stealth bomber," is in prison for rape. Forty-year-old Detective Inspector Judy Hill took his confession. Now, after three years in prison, Drummond has been released to be tried again. He harasses Hill with phone calls and threats, and she fears that he will add to his total of four rapes. Judy's lover, Detective Chief Inspector Lloyd (both characters appeared in McGown's A Shred of Evidence, LJ 6/1/96), is also involved in the case. Twists and turns and subplots put Drummond's guilt?and Hill's career (and romance)?in doubt. Reminiscent of PBS's Prime Suspect, this is a good work with some funny moments. Recommended for all mystery collections.?Barbara Maslekoff, Ohioana Lib., Columbus
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Fans of McGown's stories about Detective Inspector Judy Hill and Detective Chief Inspector Lloyd will thoroughly enjoy this eighth entry in the series, a convoluted story in which Judy must solve a series of rapes, unmask a murderer, and--not incidentally--save her own job. Unlike many writers of continuing series, McGown understands that each novel should read as though it were the first. This adventure is entirely self-contained without being repetitive, and readers unfamiliar with the characters will have no difficulties. Although the plot is clever (and very complicated), the novel, like many British mysteries, ultimately belongs to its characters--not only Hill and Lloyd but also a pompous new detective chief superintendent, a rather kindly pimp, a prostitute, a couple of rape victims, a distraught husband, a bitter ex-cop, and a convicted (though later freed) rapist who may not be what he seems to be. A delight from beginning to end. David Pitt

Edition details

• Publisher: Fawcett Columbine
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0449910679
• ISBN 13: 9780449910672
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 327