Blood Lies: A Dido Hoare Mystery (Dido Hoare Mysteries) - Hardcover

Macdonald, Marianne

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312283059 ISBN 13: 9780312283056

Publisher: Minotaur Books, 2002

Synopsis

To escape from bad memories and nightmares in London, antiquarian book dealer Dido Hoare takes time off to visit a childhood friend, Lizzy Waring. Lizzy lives in the picturesque village of Somerset with her husband and his family. The Warings own Monksdanes, an idyllic Georgian mansion; it appears the perfect place for an over-active London native to rest and recuperate.

At first Dido is enchanted by the surroundings. But it's not long before she realizes, to her dismay, that the postcard beauty is just a façade - there's a much darker reality below the surface. And her best friend is unwillingly at the center of it all; something has gone terribly wrong with Lizzy's life. But what? Lizzie won't say, and her in-laws are a secretive lot. The Waring family code is quite obviously "blood is thicker than water." The rest of the world are outsiders. Nothing is what it seems.

Dido is determined to help her old friend. Fighting through a maze of lies and misdemeanors, and ultimately what she suspects is murder, she persists in probing the deep secrets the Warings are guarding. Making some allies and some enemies along the way, Dido uncovers the sinister underbelly to life in the picturesque village. Although aware that she is putting herself in jeopardy, she doggedly brings to light the horrifying truth that is at the center of it all.

About this title

About the Author:

Marianne Macdonald was born in Canada and lived there until the age of twenty, when she went to Oxford to do graduate work. She has lived in England ever since, pursuing an academic career until she retired to focus on writing and acting.

From Booklist:

Dido Hoare, Macdonald's quick-minded heroine, comes fully into her own in this episode, as she leaves her antiquarian bookshop in London for a fortnight visit with her oldest friend, Lizzie. Newly pregnant, Lizzie has come to the Somerset village of Alford with her husband to help him keep track of his father, who is slipping steadily into dementia in the ancient pile of a house called Monksdanes. It doesn't take Dido long to find out that there's a lot of dark stuff going on: Lizzie discovers an unknown brother-in-law suddenly come home after a manslaughter conviction; the family of the dead girl in that case has some very odd members; and Lizzie's demented father-in-law is muttering about an extremely rare edition of Peter Rabbit. Dido's skills in the book trade and her offhand adoration of her toddler son, Ben--who fits as smoothly into her investigations as does her father, the inimitable Barnabas--play well against the classic quaintness of Somerset, with its very modern crimes and misdemeanors. GraceAnne DeCandido
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About this edition

• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0312283059
• ISBN 13: 9780312283056
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272