Maureen O'Brien (1) (1943–)

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This is the last in the series of six crime novels about Inspector John Bright by Maureen O'Brien (who played Doctor Who companion Vicki more than fifty years ago). I was tremendously impressed by the fifth in the series, Unauthorised Departure, and if anything even more impressed by Every Step You Take in which the suburban setting of South Norwood is transformed into a psychological landscape of terror, obsession, confused identity and unspeakable show more thoughts. John Bright, on extended leave after the events of the previous book, gets sucked into the vortex as a schoolfriend of one of the damaged people at the heart of the narrative. It becomes obvious to us readers what actually happened pretty early on, and the narrative is then about how Bright and others work their way through the fog of contradictions to the truth. I found it both difficult to read and difficult to put down, if you see what I mean. I shall certainly look out for the rest of the series. show less

Book 128 - Maureen O’Brien - Close Up on Death

The death of an actress…murdered…and the only suspects ? Her mother, her best friend and her lover.

What follows is a tight and taut 250 page thriller that introduces the world to Inspector John Bright…and it is brilliant.

He is a side character in a game of chess that stars the three main protagonists. The story is told through the eyes of Millie Hale, an actress who finds the body of her best friend. We see her interact with the dead show more actress’ mother who blames Millie for everything…and the lover who says he knows Millie did it out of professional and personal jealousy.

We meet Bright as he attempts to close in on the true culprit…dismissing irrelevant clues and ignoring dead ends that try to distract him from finding the murderer. Brilliantly brought to life with vocal ticks and a description that allows you to completely picture him…his job and how he goes about it in such a clinical way…and yet there was something of Columbo in him too.

Then with just a few chapters to go, as with all good murder mysteries, the tale changes, the inquest and the investigation goes nowhere and time seems to move on for all our characters…until…the most wonderfully brilliant ending…nope…never saw it coming…not once…completely fooled.

Told almost as a play and I could imagine this being something portrayed in a theatre…the murder mystery in the vein of Christie…or Vera…or Endeavour…

Wonderful…another series I will return to in the years ahead show less

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Maureen O'Brien is known to discerning Who fans as Vicki, the first ever 'new' companion to join Doctor Who after the series began. She is also the author of a series of detective novels about London policeman John Bright, which started in 1989 with Close Up On Death and finished (for now) in 2004 with Every Step You Take. This is the second last in the series, and takes Bright and his girlfriend Jude to the French Jura to get away from the stress of show more his most recent case. The lover of the owner of their hotel is gruesomely murdered, Bright himself becomes a suspect in the eyes of the local police, and Jude is faced with even worse problems. I thought this was exceptionally good. We really get into the heads of the two main characters, negotiating a new and fairly brittle relationship against the background of his job and the French holiday which is intended to bring them together but does not have that effect. There is a major plot twist about two-thirds of the way through which I really did not see coming. O'Brien's writing is as gripping as Ian Rankin's, and sexier. I shall start looking out for the other books in the series. show less