‘The Man At The Window’ by Betty Rowlands

Published by Hodder & Stoughton,
2 March 2000.
ISBN: 0-340-75079-0 (HB)

When Graham Shipley secures a teaching position at St Monica's Preparatory School in a Cotswold village, he feels that his exile is over and that he can begin his life again.

For Melissa Craig, best selling writer of crime fiction, returning from visiting friends in London, the sight of her home Hawthorne Cottage brings its usual feeling of thankfulness. Only tempered with thoughts of nostalgia for the days when her friend Iris Ash lived in the adjoining cottage and would be waiting to hear her news. Since Iris had married and moved away the cottage had been let to a succession of tenants. Almost immediately she meets the new tenant Graham Shipley, he makes it clear that he wishes to keep his distance. However, in a village like Upper Benbury, that is not always easy, and a reluctant Graham finds himself roped in to help with the local rounders match at a village fund raising event, where he meets the village inhabitants and many of his soon to be pupils.

Some days later returning from a shopping trip Melissa Craig sees an agitated Graham Shipley. Investigating, she finds the body of one of the local schoolgirls lying at the edge of the lake.

As the Police investigate things look bleak for Graham Shipley. Melissa discovers that all is not quite what it seems on the surface and sets out to discover the truth about Graham Shipley which may have direct bearing on the death of the young girl.

This is the ninth in the series featuring Melissa Craig and delves into the murky waters of student and teacher relationship. A thought-provoking book dealing with the consequences to both student and teacher once accusations are made.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Hayes

Betty Rowlands  (1923-2020) burst onto the crime scene in her mid-sixties by winning the Sunday Express / Veuve Clicquot Crime Short Story of the Year Competition which shows it's never too late to start writing. Her success continued with her highly acclaimed Melissa Craig mysteries featuring a crime writer who solves mysteries in Gloucestershire. Her second series, The Sukey Reynolds Stories comprise of thirteen books, featuring Sukey Reynolds, a Scenes of Crime Officer who later becomes a detective. She lived in the heart of the Cotswolds, where her Melissa Craig mysteries are set, and then in Bristol, which is closer to Sukey Reynolds patch, where she lived until her death on 29 July 2020, just a few months before her 97th birthday. She passed peacefully in the residential home that she called ‘home’. She will be greatly missed by her two surviving children, her four grandchildren, six great grandchildren, other family members, her friends and you, her many readers. The resurgence in interest in her Melissa Craig and Sukey Reynolds books in her last years gave her immense pleasure. She loved to receive emails from her fans knowing that her writing was being so enjoyed. Betty may no longer be with us but Melissa and Sukey are still there solving those mysteries. Keep on reading!