‘An Accidental Shroud’ by Marjorie Eccles

Published by St Martins, 
1 January 1997.
ISBN: 978-0-31215045-7 (HB)

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, and 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 façade, 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 Wilding’s daughter Lindsey has just returned from abroad but is no longer the open chatty girl that Christine knows.  Lindsey has also formed an attachment to a young girl Cassie, which makes Lindsey uneasy for no reason 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 he 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, Jake and Tom Callaghan are old friends, but since the death of Tom’s daughter Judy, the relationship between Nigel and Tom has been strained.

This is the seventh book in the series and Marjorie Eccles has once again woven an intricate tale set around the lives and secrets of an extended family. There is also in this book more of Abigail Moon who is tentatively becoming involved with a journalist Ben Appleyard.

Highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Hayes

Marjorie Eccles was born in Yorkshire and spent much of her childhood there and on the Northumbrian coast. The author of thirty-three books and short stories, she is the recipient of the Agatha Christie Short Story Styles Award. Her earlier books featuring police detective Gil Mayo were adapted for the BBC. Her most recent series is set after the Great War and features DI Herbert Reardon. There are five books in the series. She has also written a number of standalone books. She lives in Hertfordshire.