At Death's Door

by Robert Barnard

Idwal Meredith (2)

On This Page

Description

Benedict Cotteral, an elderly writer living out his last days at his son's home, receives a visit from his long-forgotten illegitimate daughter and becomes a suspect in her murder.

Tags

Recommendations

Member Reviews

5 reviews
Interesting story with some quite likable characters along with some monsters. I guessed whodunit rather quickly, but never why. And there could have been an equally valid different solution, but that would have meant that one of the quite likable characters had done it for noble, albeit misguided, reasons. This way all the good guys get to live happily ever after. Child abuse---verbal, physical, and sexual---is part of the background of one of the main characters, who manages to move past all this during the story. A couple care for both a mentally handicapped adult daughter and their senile father.

I remember a woman in an Agatha Christie novel who had such rotten luck with her previous marriages that we, the readers, really wanted her show more current marriage to work out well. Alas, it fit the pattern of her other relationships and her husband was the murderer. show less
½
Pretty typical and predictable. This author's works seem very uneven. One of my favorite books this year was Barnard's Scandal in Belgravia. On the other hand this one was blah.

Pretty typical and predictable. This author's works seem very uneven. One of my favorite books this year was Barnard's Scandal in Belgravia. On the other hand this one was blah.

Pretty typical and predictable. This author's works seem very uneven. One of my favorite books this year was Barnard's Scandal in Belgravia. On the other hand this one was blah.

Members

Recently Added By

Author Information

Picture of author.
77+ Works 6,287 Members

Awards and Honors

Series

Work Relationships

Common Knowledge

Canonical title
At Death's Door
Original publication date
1988
People/Characters
Caroline Cotterel; Roderick Cotterel; Benedict Cotterel; Dame Myra Mason; Chief Inspector Meredith; Cordelia Mason (show all 9); Pat McLaughlin; Granville Ashe; Becky Cotterel
First words
Upstairs in the large front bedroom that looked out to the sea the old man's voice droned feebly on, coming and going like waves against the shore.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)The voice faded into nothing, the old man's eyes closed, and he sank once more into sleep.     On the bedside table the machine whirred on.
Blurbers
Stasio, Marilyn
Original language
English

Classifications

Genres
Fiction and Literature, Mystery
DDC/MDS
823.914Literature & rhetoricEnglish & Old English literaturesEnglish fiction1900-1901-19991945-1999
LCC
PR6052 .A665 .A94Language and LiteratureEnglishEnglish Literature1961-2000
BISAC

Statistics

Members
127
Popularity
256,258
Reviews
5
Rating
(3.21)
Languages
English
Media
Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
ISBNs
14
ASINs
4