Cold Hands
A Superintendent Mike Yeadings Mystery
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
With her customary understated style and her keen ability to delve into the human psyche, Clare Curzon returns readers to Thames Valley and Superintendent Mike Yeadings. This time a case that at first glance looks to be open and shut proves more difficult and Yeadings will have to use his entire team to help solve the mystery.
Off to an early morning meeting in Scotland Yard, Superintendent Mike Yeadings boards a commuter train and prepares for the trip. The train, however, doesn't get too far before coming to a screeching halt: there is a body on the tracks. What at first looks like a suicide is soon revealed to be a vicious crime-the victim has been garroted and his hands mutilated. His pockets are also empty which makes them wonder if robbery was the motive or if the killer was trying to hide the identity of the victim to protect himself.
Yeadings soon discovers that the victim was a customs officer and that he had been investigating a possible counterfeit operation at Fraylings Court-a family estate that has recently started hosting theme holidays and offering many classes in order to pay off their mounting debt. Along with the guests requiring art lessons, dance classes, and a dog-training course, some shady characters have emerged and started their own nightly poker school. Among those regularly dealt a hand is Detective Sergeant Rosemary Zyczynski of the Thames Valley Police who is working undercover to solve the murder. Will she be able to reveal the killer and the counterfeit operation while maintaining a poker face?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Those who enjoy traditional British police procedurals need look no further than veteran Curzon's charming tale featuring Superintendent Mike Yeadings of the Thames Valley Police in a case involving one of the rarest crimes found in detective fiction: counterfeiting. After the discovery of a corpse on a rail line (which is at first unidentified but then, thanks to good police work, shown to be a customs officer's), the scene shifts to Fraylings Court, where the owners are engaged in turning the venerable country house into a holiday destination offering riding, dancing, swimming and a host of other recreational activities. The police soon deduce that counterfeit British currency may be passing through Fraylings Court from its origins abroad. So Yeadings has DS Rosemary Zyczynski pose as one of the guests. The problem is that there are quite a few residents and guests. Who is the contact person for the strange Dutchman Nederhuis, and how will the police find out where and when the rendezvous will take place? A guest named "Smith" arrives later than the others. The husband of one guest, Smith has a puzzling relationship with another female guest. Who is this mystery man? Using her skills at the poker table to probe the English "good ole boys," Rosemary does her best to find out the answers. Curzon (All Unwary) enlivens the sleuthing with conversations about the personal lives of the police. An exciting, if slightly rushed, denouement will leave most readers satisfied.
