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When the body of prominent literary agent Ed Wiseman is found among the debris on an excavation site directly below a window in his London home, DCI Bill Slider is, er, landed with the case. It's a mixed blessing, since more than one person in the upper echelons of the Met is anxious not only to resolve the case quickly, but also to conclude that it was a simple case of death by misadventure.
Appearances certainly suggest that Wiseman's death was an accident. The obvious theory is that he may have heard a noise and gone to his study window to investigate. Possibly he leaned too far out and simply lost his balance, falling three stories to the excavation site next door, where he landed on debris and construction equipment and died. In short, a case of curiosity killed the capitalist.
But Slider has his doubts. Wiseman's chair was pushed back in to his desk. Why would he bother, if he had simply gone to look out the window, expecting to return to his desk immediately? His glasses were found in the rubble of the construction site where he died; but he only wore them for reading. Why would he have taken them to the window? A glass of brandy found on his desk seems to Slider just a bit too pat, as if the scene had been staged. However much Porson might want Wiseman's death to be a simple accident, or even suicide, the pathologist puts paid to that theory: the victim had been hit in the head and killed at least an hour before being pushed out the window. So despite his boss's wishes, it seems to be a clear case of murder.
There's no shortage of suspects. The list includes the victim's ex-wife, herself a literary agent; her present husband, who took understandable exception to Wiseman dating his daughter from his first marriage; an author and her film producer husband, and two other authors, a captivating young woman with absolutely no literary talent, and an equally untalented (and much less captivating) bruiser who penned fantasy fiction, and who had been badgering Wiseman to find him a publisher for his lamentable efforts. Each of them has a motive for wanting Wiseman dead, and none have alibis. DCI Bill Slider has his work cut out for him.
Cynthia Harrod-Eagles is no stranger to readers of crime fiction. With more than sixty novels to her credit (including twenty Bill Slider Mysteries), she long ago secured her place as a prolific creator of well-crafted puzzle mysteries, leavened by her mischievous (and sometimes dark) sense of humour and a penchant for wicked word-play. But dealing with the fate of a literary agent, HEADLONG gives the author an opportunity to also comment on the various sea changes in publishing that have taken place over the past thirty years, as well as to express her opinions on some of the more trendy forms of speculative fiction that are prominent these days, and she doesn't hold back. The result is an informed and entertaining novel that will strike a chord with her many followers. HEADLONG is a welcome addition to a literary world that too often focuses on explicit violence and forensic detail, rather than careful plot structuring. Crime fiction fans in search of a traditional puzzle, peppered with clues and red herrings (along with more than the occasional chuckle), will be well pleased.
§ Since 2005 Jim Napier's reviews and interviews have appeared in several Canadian newspapers and on various crime fiction and literary websites, including his own award-winning review site, Deadly Diversions. His debut crime novel LEGACY was published in the Spring of 2017, and the second in the series, RIDLEY'S WAR, is scheduled for release in 2019.
Reviewed by Jim Napier, January 2019
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