Frozen Charlotte (A Martha Gunn Mystery, 3) - Hardcover

Masters, Priscilla

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0727880063 ISBN 13: 9780727880062

Publisher: Severn House, 2011

Synopsis

Set in the medieval town of Shrewsbury, this is the third in the compelling ‘Martha Gunn’ series - When a woman arrives in A and E clutching a child in a pink blanket, Martha Gunn is not quite ready to make the discovery that the evening has in store for her. The baby is dead, and not only that, it has been mummified. Post mortem reveals the child to be a new born, deceased for over five years and, despite the mysterious woman’s protestations that it is called ‘poppy’,  most certainly a boy. As always coroner Martha Gunn reserves judgement until she is able to get to the bottom of the case.

About this title

Review

Nurse Lucy Ramshaw finds Alice Sedgewick sitting in the corner at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital's Accident and Emergency Department, holding a pink blanket containing a mummified infant. The infant has been dead for 5-10 years, but Alice contends she found the baby when she was looking around in her attic. When questioned, Alice goes back and forth from being lucid to teetering on the edge of sanity. Alex Randall, from the local police department, and coroner Martha Gunn investigate the infant's death, researching the Sedgewicks along with previous owners of the home to determine how the baby died and why his body was concealed. Martha asks for Alex's help as she continues to receive unsettling phone calls and messages, and she becomes concerned for her own and her daughter's safety. Plot twists, procedural details concerning the work of both the police and the coroner, and the protagonists' personal lives are interwoven throughout a compelling, sad story. --Booklist, May 1, 2011

From Publishers Weekly

In chapter one of Masters's gripping third mystery featuring intuitive, no-nonsense coroner Martha Gunn (after 2007's Slip Knot), a middle-aged woman, Alice Sedgewick, brings in the desiccated remains of an infant boy to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. Polite yet eerily vacant, Alice insists she found the newborn in her home. Martha, whose job it is to find out not only who has died but where and how, has her hands full, and the police, under Det. Insp. Alex Randall's curt and decisive guidance, fan out to interview a host of colorful yet recalcitrant suspects, including Alice's domineering and blustery husband as well as the previous owners of Alice's house, an arrogant couple who now live in Spain. The widowed Martha's conversations with her spirited teenage twin daughters, her interactions with troubled friends, and her relationship with the enigmatic Alex hold considerable interest. Clues, lined up like golden crumbs, lure the reader to a surprising conclusion. (June)

About this edition

• Publisher: Severn House
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0727880063
• ISBN 13: 9780727880062
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 208