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Library | Call Number | Status |
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Searching... Willamina Public Library | FIC FRANCIS | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Alex is a criminal lawyer practicing in London. An old friend whom she hasn't seen for years calls upon her for help. His elegant wife, Grace, has disappeared. The police aren't trying hard enough to find her. Alex goes to his aid and discovers that he had good reason for murdering the alluring but not so very lovable Grace.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
All the inhabitants of the village of Deepwell describe the missing Grace Dearden as the perfect wife: elegant, generous and compassionate. Veteran mystery readers will immediately know that Grace must be exactly the opposite, just as they know that "missing" always means "murdered," but that won't take away from the pleasure of this well-crafted thriller set in the bleak salt marshes of Norfolk, England. Feisty London lawyer Alexandra O'Neill is called on by old friend Will Dearden to help deal with a police force he believes isn't working hard enough to solve his wife's disappearance. As a teenager Alex was in love with Will, though she now finds herself unhappily married to the drunken Paul, an unethical lawyer who eagerly defends the most vile criminals as long as they can pay his hefty fees. These circumstances combine to lure Alex back to Will and her childhood home. There she finds memories of early life and love and a boatload of suspects all with a good reason to whack Grace. Prolific British author Francis (Night Sky) is especially proficient at creating quirky character sketches that spring to life on the page: "She smoked in a grand manner, supported her elbow in the cup of one hand, sweeping the cigarette from her mouth to some point in space in a wide flamboyant arc accompanied be an elegant rotation of the wrist." Fans of the traditional whodunit will enjoy settling back and following the indomitable Alex as she brings to light the revelations and dark secrets submerged by the waters of the menacing marsh. (June) Forecast: A consistently bestselling author in England, Francis has yet to meet in the U.S. the commercial promise held out by her debut novel, Night Sky; but chances are good that eventually she will tap deeper into the considerable pool of U.S. Brit-crime enthusiasts. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
An old-fashioned reworking of themes from Rebecca--the inconsolable husband, the too-perfect wife, the inadequate replacement, the timely natural disasters--first published in the UK in 1997. Just as solicitor Alex O'Neill's London life is falling apart--the key witness her husband and partner Paul providentially found to get their client, crime lord Ronnie Buck, acquitted of assaulting a police officer was clearly bought and paid for--along comes a voice from her past to pull her out of her endless rounds of defending the guilty and tucking sozzled Paul into bed. The voice is that of her disliked brother Edward's tenant farmer Will Dearden back in the Norfolk village of Deepwell. Will's dazzling wife Grace, the woman he threw Alex over for 12 years ago, has gone missing, and her whole family--Will, his mother Maggie, and his dyslexic son Charlie--are frantic. Well, not Grace's whole family, since her mother, flamboyant Veronica Bailey, is as firmly convinced that Will's behind her daughter's disappearance as that Grace was wrong to marry him. Will has called on Alex as his family solicitor, but nearly everything Alex does--thumbing through Grace's appointment book, checking her phone records, walking the marshes to determine who opened the sluices in an attempt to flood the land Will was about to sell Edward under protest--pits her professional status against her powerful loyalty to the Deardens, especially to Will. By the time she discovers Grace's body beneath one of the sluice gates and embarks on still another round of questioning the same uncomfortably small circle of suspects, it's clear that Alex has some tough decisions ahead of her. Despite a tendency to revisit each piece of evidence and each increasingly self-damning bit of testimony perhaps one time too many, Francis (Betrayal, 2002, etc.) digs satisfyingly deep into her characters and the soil from which they've sprung. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Alexandra and Paul, both London defense lawyers, face a possible rift in their relationship after Paul wins a case for a particularly disgusting client who maimed an off-duty police officer. Before things regress too far, however, Alex runs to help an old Norfolk friend whose apparently widely popular wife has disappeared. The search for Grace uncovers family conflicts-including one with Alexandra's own brother, who lives nearby-while police continue to suspect Grace's husband. Good psychological drama from the author of Betrayal, this was a best seller in Britain, where it was published in 1997. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.