When antique jeweller Nigel Forntenoy is found dead on a building site, the immediate suspect is his cousin Jake Wilding. For Jake Wilding is in debt to the dead man, it is his building site, and he does not convincingly account for his whereabouts on the night in question.
On the surface, Jake Wilding is a successful builder with a trophy wife. But all is not as it seems, beneath the facade, the family is divided, with Jake’s son Matthew refusing to go into his father’s business, preferring instead to work for his cousin Nigel. Christine Wilder’s daughter Lindsey has just returned from abroad but is no longer the open chatty girl that Christine knows. Both children have also formed an attachment to a young girl Cassie, which makes Christine uneasy for no reason that she can pinpoint.
When traces of Nigel’s blood are found on one of Jake’s trucks he finally produces an alibi, an ex-wife, and claims that he had been pressurised by Nigel to obtain from her something of great value.
As DCI Gil Mayo and DI Abigail Moon investigate they uncover other attachments. Nigel Fontenoy, Jake Wilding and TV presenter Tom Callaghan are old school friends, but since the death of Tom’s daughter Judy, the relationship between Nigel and Tom has been strained.
Marjorie Eccles has once again woven an intricate tale set around the lives and secrets of an extended family. There is also more of Abigail Moon in this book which is the seventh in the series. Abigail is tentatively becoming involved with a journalist Ben Appleyard.
I have read several books in this series, and had my own picture of Gil Mayo.
It was interesting to listen to Terry Wale portraying him, a bit like the first
time I saw the televised version of Morse, who was nothing like the Morse I
had grown to know through the books. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy the
interpretation, just that it was different.
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Lizzie Hayes