Review by Booklist Review
When Rex Graves gets a call from a college friend, Malcolm Patterson, asking for help with four murders, all of which took place on the same day in Malcolm's usually quiet Bedfordshire community of Notting Hamlet, Graves, Scottish queen's counsel, drives south to take up the challenge. As Malcolm, a retired pathologist, reviews what is known about the case, Rex learns that all four victims had their houses on the market with the same real-estate agent; that Malcolm had been the first to see all the bodies; and, worse, that Malcolm had wiped away letters written in blood, fearing that he would be accused, as the letters looked like his initials. Rex enmeshes himself into the community, helping an elderly neighbor with dog-walking duties but worrying how to keep his friend from being arrested for tampering with evidence. After talking to more neighbors, Rex unearths small clues, which, added to some online research, help him formulate a theory. This seventh in the series nicely mixes procedural detail and village charm and will appeal to fans of Deborah Crombie and Anne Cleeland.--Muller, Karen Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In Challinor's satisfying eighth Rex Graves mystery (after 2014's Murder at Midnight), the Scottish barrister travels to quiet Notting Hamlet, Bedfordshire, at the request his widowed friend, Malcolm Patterson, a bumbling retired medical pathologist who in a panic tampered with evidence related to four unsolved murders. When a neighbor found the eldest victim, Ernest Blackwell, garroted with piano wire, his neck nearly severed, she alerted Malcolm, who proceeded to wipe off the letters smeared in blood on Blackwell's forehead. For now the only suspect is the house agent who represented all four victims in the midst of selling their properties. Malcolm fears that he'll fall under suspicion next if Rex doesn't help him solve the mysterious rash of murders. An intuitive sleuth, Rex befriends the locals in his effort to find the crucial connection among the deceased. Smooth prose will keep cozy fans turning the pages. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
In his seventh series outing (after Murder at Midnight) Scottish barrister Rex Graves takes advantage of his fiancée's absence on a cruise to investigate the serial killings of four people in a small English community. It turns out none of the victims is who the neighbors believed. © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Helping an old pal puts a Scottish barrister in danger. Rex Graves, QC, routinely takes time out from his duties as a prosecutor to solve murders as a hobby. His old university friend Malcolm Patterson has become a pathologist and left Edinburgh for Bedfordshire. When four horrific murders are committed in Malcolm's community of Notting Hamlet, he quite reasonably calls Rex for help. Both men have lost their wives, but while Rex is engaged to be married, Malcolm is stuck in the doldrums; he's even quit his job. Now he admits to Rex that upon discovering each corpse, he tampered with the crime scene, since someone seemed to have written his initials, M.N.P., in blood on each victim's forehead. Rex is furious but agrees to investigate. The police suspect the real estate agent who'd been trying to sell the homes of all the murder victims. Strolling through the neighborhood while walking the neighbor's dog, Rex picks up a good deal of local gossip. Two interesting new possibilities are a young man who claims to be searching for his birth mother and a striking foreign couple who looked at a few of the houses. Following up on those two encounters, Rex uncovers some nasty secrets that lead him to peril and enlightenment. Rex's seventh (Murder at Midnight, 2014, etc.) reveals too much early on to offer much of a puzzle, but it's still fun to follow the clues. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
