Least of Evils
-
- $8.99
-
- $8.99
Publisher Description
The Northumberland detective makes “a memorable hero, as distinctive as Inspector Morse” in this thrilling whodunit of murder among the moneyed (Booklist).
DCI Percy Peach has been called to the sprawling Thorley Grange estate in Brunton to investigate the murder of Oliver Ketley. The beloved philanthropist was found in his Bentley, shot through the head. When he arrives, Peach discovers a wounded intruder lurking on the grounds, hoarding a bag of priceless gems. Case closed? Not exactly. A guy like Oliver doesn’t die in a simple robbery gone wrong. Not with his secrets.
The suspects are far more high-profile: the victim’s society wife; her lover, a former member of Her Majesty’s Secret Service; and a brutal, powerful gang lord. Now it’s left to Peach to find the killer—by exposing the charitable victim as the disreputable fraud he was.
“Peach is a formidable opponent whose insight and persistence earn him top honors among British procedurals.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Reason and insight can still be the detective's greatest weapons, as shown in Gregson's agreeable 16th mystery featuring Lancashire Det. Chief Insp. Percy Peach (after 2011's Merely Players). Oliver Ketley, rich, powerful, and known by the police to be involved with drugs, prostitution, and gangland killings, has moved into Thorley Grange with his Swedish trophy wife, Greta, and an entourage of staff and bodyguards. An inept burglar provides Peach with an unexpected lever to glimpse Ketley's existence at Thorley Grange, but Ketley's subsequent murder changes everything. Peach finds Ketley had many enemies, including a rival gangster who hired a contract killer to do in Ketley, Greta, and Greta's former SAS officer lover. Proving whodunit is a different matter, and Peach's careful interrogation of suspects and Ketley's household staff paves the way to a surprising and satisfying solution.
