The Reckoning
A John Madden Mystery Set in World War II England
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4.9 • 7 Ratings
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
On a quiet afternoon in 1947, retired bank manager Oswald Gibson is shot in the head while fishing. In Scotland, a respectable family doctor is killed in the same manner—and with the same gun. What is the connection? Scotland Yard’s Detective Inspector Billy Styles and local detective Vic Chivers are baffled until a letter from Gibson is discovered that may shed some light on the case—a letter concerning former Scotland Yard detective John Madden. Despite Madden’s legendary memory, he has no recollection of meeting Gibson or any idea what their relationship might have been. Madden is happily retired from police work, but agrees to help his former protege Styles, and the clues they uncover only deepen the mystery. When a third man is killed in a similar fashion, Madden and Styles find themselves in a race against time to find the killer before another man ends up dead.
A tense, intricately plotted mystery, this is the fourth title in the critically acclaimed and much loved John Madden series.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Like its predecessors, Edgar-finalist Airth's so-so fourth John Madden novel (after 2009's Dead of Winter) transitions from a whodunit to a search for a known killer well before the end. In 1947, someone shoots Oswald Gibson, a retired bank manager, in the head while he's fishing in a stream near Lewes, Sussex. Before his death, a visit from a stranger prompted Gibson to compose a letter to Scotland Yard asking about Madden's whereabouts. Long retired from Scotland Yard, Madden is sure he never met the man. A month earlier, someone shot Dr. Wallace Drummond in his surgery in Ballater, Scotland, "in exactly the same manner." Readers will have little trouble staying ahead of the police as they attempt to figure out what Madden, Gibson, and Drummond could have had in common, and they will be disappointed by a plot hole in the resolution. Less developed than in previous books, Madden comes across as somewhat dull.
