Criminal Damage
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- £3.99
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
Something murderous is about to happen in Middle Bardolph. The sunny village seems as neat and proper as the orderly life of Mrs Newton, the grey-haired widow in an impeccably kept house. Yet a trifle more scrutiny will soon reveal a darker picture of this picture-postcard existence . . . one where acts of greed and obsession are about to turn Mrs Newton's prim life upside-down.
Unknown to Mrs Newton, an ex-convict and some unsavoury associates are as near as next door, her recently jilted grown daughter is going murderously mad with grief, and her middle-aged son is so desperate for his inheritance he just may try to collect it prematurely. Any of the above could endanger an elderly lady's life, but there is something more. A most sinister secret belongs to Mrs Newton herself - and the truth will come out with perhaps deadly results . . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Mrs. Newton, a widow, enjoys a quiet and determinedly tidy life in the picturesque English village of Middle Bardolph, but storms are brewing that seem likely to unsettle it. Geoffrey, her boring and not very pleasant son, thinks his mother should underwrite the larger home his ambitious wife demands. Temperamental daughter Jennifer is increasingly obsessed with her former lover and his new fiancee and seems bent on disrupting their lives: puncturing tires, breaking a window--and plotting worse. Meanwhile Neil Smith, a carpenter working on the house next door (who once served time for robbing and injuring an elderly lady) seems curiously determined to strike up an acquaintance with Mrs. Newton. Yorke ( A Small Deceit ) mixes this deftly drawn, untrustworthy cast with robbery, violence and a hidden past, keeping readers guessing about what will be done and who will do it. The ending, while a trifle too upbeat and neat, would perfectly suit the fastidious Mrs. Newton.
