No Laughing Matter
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4.2 • 66 Ratings
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Det. Inspector Thanet investigates a country vineyard tainted by murder in this British mystery from the CWA Silver Dagger Award–winning author.
Sturrenden Vineyard is a few miles west of town, a lovely piece of land where tourists come to sip wine, tour the grounds, and enjoy the exquisite Kentish scenery. But Det. Inspector Luke Thanet is too busy for such frivolous activities, so his first visit comes with the introduction of a an attraction far more in keeping with his usual interests: murder.
Vineyard owner Zak Randish has been found dead in his personal laboratory, where he'd been working late into the night to perfect the next vintage. His equipment is smashed and his blood stains every surface, mingling with the wine. Although outwardly happy, successful, and at peace, Randish had terrible secrets, and Thanet must uncover them soon, lest the vineyard's tidy rows of grapes run red with blood as red as Sturrenden wine.
An "absorbing" police produral, No Laughing Matter is another sterling entry in Dorothy Simpson's long-running, award-winning mystery series (Publishers Weekly).
Praise for Dorothy Simpson
"A modern-day version of Agatha Christie." —Booklist
"Dependably pleasing." —The Boston Globe
No Laughing Matter is the 12th book in the Inspector Thanet Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
``. . .Unlike the living, the dead have no means of safeguarding their secrets,'' thinks detective inspector Luke Thanet in his 12th case, while viewing the corpse of vintner Zak Randish. The victim's jugular vein was severed when he was shoved through a window of his winery's laboratory, the scene of considerable violence. Thanet bypasses such mundane stuff as physical evidence (he has only one suspect's shoes checked for broken glass and we never learn the result), preferring instead to dig deeply into the dead man's unsavory past. Uncovering wife-beating and crass womanizing for starters, Thanet finds an ugly secret under each overturned stone, exposing the last secret, a real shocker, that leads to a stunning outcome. Adding dimension to the picture are leisurely looks at Thanet's daughter Bridget's unhappy romance, peripheral characters' battles with anorexia, dyslexia, leukemia and post-partum depression and the difficulties of British winemakers, struggling along without ``any of the grants the French and Germans get.'' Simpson ( Wake the Dead ) has written an absorbing tale, but much of the action takes place offstage. Mystery Guild selection.
Customer Reviews
No Laughing Matter
Very mind stimulating and surprising ending!