THE WRONG RITE

Returning with his wife and infant daughter to Wales for a family reunion, Canadian Mounted Police detective Madoc Rhys finds himself investigating the death of his cousin. By the author of An Owl Too Many. 20,000 first printing. $10,000 ad/promo.

The fifth Jenny and Madoc Rhys mystery ( An Owl Too Many ) finds the appealing young Canadians and their baby daughter in Wales for great-uncle Sir Cardoc Rhys's 90th birthday. The clan has gathered, and renowned musicians, a well-known author, an actress and two aging sorcerers are among the celebrants. Feasting begins in the huge old kitchen with Welsh cakes and trifle, moves to the barn with a mammoth birthday banquet, is followed by revelry in the meadow--poetry and folk singing, harps and violins, and, at dusk, the piece de resistance: leaping the Beltane fire. All is described in such delicious detail that it's a distinct letdown when sudden death terminates the festivities. Royal Canadian Mounted Police inspector Madoc, asked to join the inquiry, untangles diverse strands--an old murder, a ram decapitation, jewel theft, blackmail and even prostitution--to reach a fairly predictable solution. But if the investigation lacks thrills, the portrayal of old Welsh customs and engaging family eccentrics is delightful.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Detective Inspector Madoc Rhys of the Canadian Mounties (A Pint of Murder, 1980, etc.), wife Janet, and infant daughter Dorothy are visiting Madoc's family in Wales to celebrate the 90th birthday of grandfather Sir Caradoc Rhys. A clutch of friends and relatives are in and out of the manor house, eating a succession of meals and drinking endless cups of tea. Among them is neighbor Lisa Ellis, a widow whose gem-dealer husband was murdered in Marseilles eight years before. Distant cousin Mary Rhys, a gem-cutter of unexpected affluence, and her occult-obsessed brother Bob are also guests, as is Madoc's opera-star brother Daffyd, for years in love with Lisa. It takes 150 pages of relatives, local rites, and cooing over Dorothy before Mary, long tagged the murder victim, comes to her ritualistic end. Unwinding the background to her murder, a scenario full of bizarre coincidence, is no more enthralling than what's gone before. Cloying, unconvincing, and strictly for faithful fans. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.