Darkness Beyond
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
DI Herbert Reardon investigates the curious case of a man seemingly returned from the dead, in the latest 1930s-set historical mystery from Marjorie Eccles.
February, 1933. When their eldest brother Paul walks into their hallway, fourteen years after he was presumed dead, successful property developers Thea and Teddy Millar are beset with questions. Where has he been? Why has he never written to let them know he was alive? And most of important of all: what happened to Paul, after the end of the Great War, to make him abandon everything and everyone he ever knew?
When Paul's body is found floating in the canal two weeks later, Detective Inspector Herbert Reardon feels sure the murder is connected to his new life in London. For who would want to kill a man who's been thought dead for over a decade?
But Reardon knows the past can cast long shadows, and as he investigates, he finds a knot of dark secrets and old grudges that someone is determined he'll never untangle . . .
This atmospheric historical mystery brings the interwar period of the 1930s to vivid, compelling life, and is a great choice for fans of traditional mysteries with characters who feel real and sympathetic.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in 1933, Eccles's appealing fifth mystery featuring Det. Insp. Herbert Reardon (after 2017's Property of Lies) opens with the return home one night of widower Paul Millar to the Midlands market town of Folbury more than 14 years after Paul's siblings, Teddy and Thea, and his grown son, Matt, believed he died in the Great War. Where has he been? Why has he come back? These are just a few of the questions Reardon and his sergeant, Joe Gilmour, delve into two weeks later after Paul's discovered floating in a river, dead from a gunshot wound in the back of the head. Reardon and his inquisitive wife, Ellen, happen to live in the Millars' former housekeeper's cottage, where Ellen finds the housekeeper's diary, which contains some important clues. Eccles skillfully juggles several possible suspects, keeping the suspense high by revealing festering past resentments and memories colored by the passage of time, as well as contemporary issues that could have led to Paul's demise. An old-fashioned writing style fits the straightforward solution to the crime. Fans of traditional English mysteries will have fun.
