‘Blood From Stone’ by Frances Fyfield
Published by Sphere, July 2009.
ISBN: 978-0-7515-3927-1

Marianne Shearer was a successful criminal barrister. In her last case she defended Rick Boyd who was charged with kidnapping, robbing and assaulting three young women. Two of the women were afraid to give evidence at the trial and the third, Angel Joyce, was so psychologically mauled by Marianne in the witness box that she killed herself. So Rick Boyd walked free. Then, not long after, Marianne commits a very public suicide. Why? Her friend and solicitor, Thomas Noble, would like to know. So would her estranged brother Frank who, in the apparent absence of any will, stands to inherit under the laws of intestacy. Frank would like Marianne’s death to be not suicide because that would affect any sums due under her life insurance. Murder or accident would suit Frank much, much better. But all Marianne’s papers have disappeared. Where are they? Someone else who would like to know is Rick Boyd; Marianne knew a great deal more about him than came out in court, and as she kept full and meticulous notes Rick would like to get his hands on them before anyone else does. Otherwise matters might come out which could provide fresh evidence and grounds for a retrial and that is something Rick is determined to stop at all costs.

Thomas instructs Peter Friel, one of the prosecution team at the Boyd trial, to make further enquiries. The first person Peter contacts is Angel’s sister Henrietta who was similarly bullied by Marianne during the trial but with less traumatic consequences. Henrietta is a clothes restorer and when Peter brings her the clothes that Marianne died in, not her austere court outfits, but a classic haute couture outfit, Henrietta and Peter both realise that Marianne was not just a cold and ruthless advocate but had a life and a past outside and beyond her legal practice. To uncover that secret life and secret past could reveal not just the whereabouts of the missing papers but the mystery of Marianne’s death. But their search brings them up against Frank and Rick, both brutal and sadistic thugs, and places them in danger, as well as others in Marianne’s secret life.

Frances Fyfield is one of the most literary of modern crime writers with a spare and elliptical style demanding concentration from the reader. She has two series featuring Helen West and Sarah Fortune, but she has also written a number of one-offs of which Blood from Stone is one. Her characters are complex and well-rounded, her plotting intricate and convincing. Herself a criminal lawyer, the legal setting is, as always, powerfully and comprehensibly described, while the evocation of classic haute couture which forms the background to Blood from Stone and ranges from Worth and Fortuny to Hardy Amies and Ossie Clark is fascinating. An excellent read.
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Radmila May
Other books by Frances Fyfield: A Question of Guilt, Shadows on the Mirror, Trial by Fire, Deep Sleep, Shadow Play, Perfectly Pure and Good, A Clear Conscience, Without Consent, Blind Date, Staring at the Light, Undercurrents, The Nature of the Beast, Seeking Sanctuary, Looking Down, Safer than Houses; writing as Frances Hegarty: The Playroom, Half Light, Let’s Dance.