Wycliffe and the House of Fear (Wycliffe, Book 20) - Softcover

W. J. Burley

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0552144371 ISBN 13: 9780552144377

Publisher: Corgi, 1996

Synopsis

"The Kemps were a Cornish Catholic family who had held on to Kellycoryk, their family home, for almost five hundred years. But it was beginning to look as though the present century would be their last. Roger, head of the shrinking clan, was desperate to save the house and land. His second marriage, to the shrewd and tough businesswoman, Bridget, offered a way out. Bridget, prosperous head of her own company, wanted to take Kellycoryk over for development and although Roger hated the idea Bridget refused to save the estate in any other way. The - suddenly - Bridget disappeared and old memories began to be raked over. Hadn't Julia, Roger's first wife (also a wealthy woman) disappeared mysteriously, presumably in a boating accident? Did Roger, his sister and his disturbed children know more about the past than had ever been revealed? Wycliffe, supposed to be recuperating from an illness in the neighbourhood, found there was too much that was intriguing about the Kemps for him to ignore."

About this title

About the Author

W.J. Burley lived near Newquay in Cornwall, and was a schoolmaster until he retired to concentrate on his writing. His many Wycliffe novels were extremely popular and were adapted for a highly successful TV series starring Jack Shepherd. W.J. Burley died in 2002.

From Publishers Weekly

Charles Wycliffe's 20th case (after Wycliffe and the Dunes Mystery) begins as he is on holiday with his wife in Cornwall, where he becomes interested in the 500-year-old estate of Kellycoryk and its family, the Kemps. The manor at Kellycoryk has fallen into ruin and is barely habitable. To save it, Roger Kemp, to whom heritage matters above all else, must either sell outright or lease it to the company owned by his wealthy second wife Bridget, who plans to make it a tourist resort. Roger, with "a knack for turning misfortune into... calamity," becomes the prime suspect when Bridget goes missing and the evidence points to murder. Wycliffe's natural curiosity becomes official when he takes over the investigation and turns his attention to the boating death of Roger's first wife, all while sorting out the Kemp family's festering relationships. Intuition, experience and factual inconsistencies lead him toward the solution of both deaths, but not before an apparently guilt-induced suicide occurs. This skilled blend of mood, character and plot will likely be read in one sitting.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Corgi
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0552144371
• ISBN 13: 9780552144377
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 240