The Uninvited Corpse
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Vernon Gray is the oldest and richest of the residents of the four flats on the sixth floor of a block in his small seaside town. After seeing her on TV, he has instructed Rosa Epton to draft his last will and testament, when another of her clients demands her attention on an urgent matter: he has been accused of stealing five pounds from the collection plate at the end of the Sunday morning service.
And then Vernon Gray disappears, along with his housekeeper, leaving a welter of puzzling clues to confuse the police, and the learned Rosa.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When lawyer Rosa Epton appears on the TV program Legal Aid, Vernon Gray, a wealthy old eccentric, decides to hire her to oversee the drafting of his will. But when Gray disappears with a housekeeper that Rosa herself helped him select, and when the police discover an unidentified corpse in his apartment, Rosa finds herself embroiled in both the search for Gray and for the identity of the uninvited corpse. Underwood (Death at Deepwood Grange, Hand of Fate is not at his best here, producing a plot that is little more than a mass of coincidence and contrivance. A series of "what-if'' situations are used to build a thoroughly circumstantial case, and all wild guesses are found to be facts when the killer conveniently confesses at book's end. Although the one courtroom scene in the book demonstrates once again Underwood's strengths, readers will find this a plodding and repetitive mystery devoid of convincing characterization.
