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A house party in 1963 ends badly with the wife and child of one of the guests dead and the host and a nanny in police custody. Sir Ralph "Mick" Mikkledore is found guilty of murder, sentenced to hang, and has the doubtful distinction of being the last man hanged in Yorkshire. Cecily Kohler, the nanny, is also found guilty and spends more than 25 years in prison, where she murders a prison guard, before a film maker, claiming to be her cousin, gets her out of jail. Andy Dalziel remembers that night vividly. He was a young copper, who when Cissy upturned the canoe in which she had been lurking with the twins Philip (Pip) and Emma, dove in to the rescue. Cissy came up with Pip, who lived. Andy found Emma, who was dead. He never forgot. Another face from that time is sent from London to investigate the Detective Superintendant, Walter Tallantire, Dalziel's superior at the time. He's now dead, and Andy wants to preserve Tallantire's reputation, so he has his aide, DCI Peter Pasco listen to the tape of a radio programme made about the affair. Guests at that weekends "last of the country house murders" had been involved with both the British and American secret services, a spy for the Soviets, a distant relation of the Queen, 2 nannies, one American, and various children. Were the confessions of Mick and Cissy just conveniently used to protect any or all of the above or were they truly and freely given. The tape, and a recent television interview with Kohler, also piques Pascoe's interest. His wife Ellie, is visiting her mother, and he has lots of time to brood Fat Andy is by far, the lead character in this installment of the long running series. In 1963, he was just starting his career, which has led to his current position, equal to that of his friend and mentor, Wally Tallantire. There is no doubt that the nanny had been responsible for Emma's death, and that of the wardress, but even though Mikkledore had gone to the gallows for the shooting death of Pam Westropp, American wife of James, distant cousin to the Queen, and working for the British Secret Service at the time, her murder had never really been solved to Andy's satisfaction. Andy is trying to protect Wally's reputation by proving that justice has really been done, and in his quest, Pascoe and Wield become involved. Each of the books in this series can be read individually. The main characters remain the same, Dalziel, Pascoe, Wield, but the situations change. It's not vital that one knows what happened in the last book in the series, but once you start reading, it's hard not to go looking. In this one, Andy reveals a little more of himself and his compassion for his subordinates. It's really well done, but as far as I can remember, the Dalziel in this book seems to be more like Warren Clarke who plays him on television, than the really repulsive Fat Andy of earlier works. This is a review of the 1999 UK reprint published by HarperCollins, UK. GBP 5.99
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, January 2002
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