Published by Headline,
July
2000.
ISBN: 0-7472-747-1 (HB)
Damaris
Oakley and her sister Florence are the only remaining members of the Oakley
family, now living in diminished circumstances. To enjoy a comfortable old age
they have decided to sell the ancestral home. For the last hundred years they
have lived under the shadow of their Grandfather’s arrest and trial for the
murder of Cora their Grandmother. That William Oakley was never convicted of
the murder, but disappeared directly after being released from jail has not
dispelled the stigma attached to the family
So, when they receive a letter from a young Polish man claiming to be related
to their Grandfather William Oakley, they panic, not only for the adverse
publicity his claim will reawaken but also that any court case is bound to drag
on for years, and the sisters are not young.
I loved this book, it has everything. Both periods, 1889 and the murder of
Cora, and the current situation set in 1999 run side by side. We are through
the author privy to the characters of both times. The wonderful thing is that
it is never confusing. Possibly, because the characters of both periods are so
well drawn that it would not be possible to set them in a different time.
Meredith Mitchell, who has her own problems with interlopers, is on the case,
it being in her own village amongst people she knows.
For all the Meredith fans out there is one of the best books by Ann Granger I
have read, and she throws in an odd comment, which had me twitching to say the
least. I will say no more, you must read it for yourself.
------
Reviewer: Lizzie Hayes
Ann
Granger was born
in Portsmouth where she was a pupil at the then Northern Grammar School for
Girls and went from there to London University where she achieved a BA in
Modern Languages (French with German). After a period spent first teaching
English in France and then working in the Visa Section of British Embassies
around the world. She met her husband, who was also working for the British
Embassy, in Prague, and together they received postings to places as far apart
as Munich and Lusaka. She is the author of the Mitchell and Markby Mysteries,
the Fran Varady series and more recently the Lizzie Martin mystery series. She
lives in Bicester, near Oxford.
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