A Study in Death - Softcover

Iain McDowell

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0749932112 ISBN 13: 9780749932114

Publisher: Piatkus Books, 2000

Synopsis

Dr. Roger Harvey, an academic who pursues women and European history with equal passion, is found murdered in his apartment. Detective Sargent Ian Kerr and Detective Chief Inspector Frank Jacobson can discern no obvious motive for the murder. Harvey didn't do serious drugs and didn't have a criminal record. Not even his closest friends can throw any light on the mystery that threatens to unravel in every direction. Kerr and Jacobson find the case difficult to crack, which increases Jacobson's dependence on alcohol, and puts more pressure on Kerr's disintegrating marriage.To untangle the dark threads of the mystery, the case takes them from Crowby University to Amsterdam, and involves everything from million dollar machinations in the software industry, to New Age cultists in the English Lake District.

About this title

About the Author

Ian McDowall was born in Scotland but now lives in the English Midlands where his fictional town of Crowby is located. Iain worked as a philosophy lecturer and as a computer specialist before turning to crime (writing). Visit him at www.crowby.co.uk

From Publishers Weekly

Twists in plot wait for the reader around every corner, while the cold rain and wind of a Scottish November penetrate this debut procedural that compares favorably with the work of the popular author of tartan noir, Ian Rankin. When Dr. Roger Harvey, a well-liked and respected history lecturer at Crowby College, is found dead in his home, Det. Chief Inspector Frank Jacobson and Det. Sergeant Ian Kerr and their team have little to go on. As they interview friends, associates and neighbors, they are led from a refuge house for battered women and the environs of Crowby to Amsterdam and the Lake District, and from Harvey's romantic entanglements to major software theft and a New Age cult, before the pieces come together in a surprising conclusion. McDowall expertly manages a complicated plot and has created realistic, albeit troubled characters: Jacobson struggles with feelings of inferiority and battles his vices unlike Rankin's Det. John Rebus, who has resigned himself to his; Kerr's marriage is on the rocks; and the suspects themselves are revealed to lead lives of desperation. No Gothic spires dispel the gloom of the concrete Crowby College, telephone and electrical wires obscure the views of the surrounding mountains, the tea is often cold and the coffee, awful. Dispelling old myths and fantasies, McDowall depicts Scotland as it is in the 21st century and has created a compelling, fast-moving story that leaves the reader wondering where he will go from here.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Piatkus Books
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0749932112
• ISBN 13: 9780749932114
• Binding: Paperback