Shadow Play

One of the pleasures of the restrictions libraries face with ebooks is that occasionally I end up reading something from the backlist. Frances Fyfield writes weird, Dickensian (or Barbara Vine-ish) tales about a lawyer in London, her police detective lover, and various oddballs they encounter. The detective is mostly absent in this one, and the foreground taken by a punkish paralegal with a difficult past and a suspicion that somebody is deliberately losing files so that the Crown Proscecution Service will forfeit cases. Added to that, a demented and creeot bible-basher whose wife and child disappeared and whose efforts to find his child tend to end up in criminal court. Dense, moody, disturbing, and ultimately entertaining novel worth show more rediscovery. show less

I read this book as an electronic advance reading copy (e-ARC) provided by Edelweiss. I have sent feedback to the publisher via that web site.

This book is subtle in the way it slowly builds up tension and drama, resulting in a surprising climax. Many mystery novels ask, "Whodunit?" When you read this book, you can figure out "who" fairly easily; it is the questions of "when" and "how" that will captivate the reader.

Note: This book was published originally in 1993. I am unsure why it is being reprinted now. It falls into my own subgenre category of "How would this story have changed if it were set in the present and the characters had cell phones?" (The climax relies on the characters being out of communication with people who could show more help them because they are relying on landlines.) show less

I hadn't read anything by Frances Fyfield before but I was fairly impressed with her work so I'll be looking for more.

This is a psychological thriller more than a murder mystery although there are a few murders thrown in as well. Helen West is a Crown Prosecutor in London trying to do her best in a creaky judicial system. At the start of the book she has just lost a trial against Mr. Logo who has been charged a number of times with assaulting young girls but never gets convicted. Logo is a strange little man who picks up rubbish for the Council, always carries a Bible and sings hymns at the drop of a hat. We learn that his wife and daughter left him a number of years ago and it is his daughter that he is looking for when he is found show more with these young girls. His next door neighbour, Margaret, is about the only person who thinks kindly of Logo but she has to bar him from her place when she is babysitting and Logo doesn't appreciate this.

Helen West takes a young clerk, Rose Darvey, under her wing even though Rose is prickly (at the best of times). The remainder of the story centres around Rose and we gradually learn her story.

The ending is taut with excitement. I had to put everything aside while I finished up the book because I couldn't get anything done until I knew how it ended. show less

Frances Fyfield has created one of the most enjoyable characters in the mystery field. Helen West is a Crown Prosecutor,something of a recluse yet approachable. In this fourth outing she is stymied by a slimy little man called Mr. Logo. Far from sane, he continually charms juries into freeing him from any criminal charge he is faced with. Unknowingly, Helen has the perfect weapon to stop him, her newly appointed assistant, Rose.
As Rose's past unfolds and eventually collides with Mr. Logo, Helen must also figure out who is removing drunk driving files and how she really feels about Geoffrey Bailey, friend and lover.
This is the first of the series I have read but definitelt not the last. Literate,fast-paced, and,enjoyable, any mystery fan show more will love this series. show less

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