Political Suicide

"It was a quiet morning on Downing Street. The Prime Minister was stewing over a draft bill to privatize the armed forces, many of the aides and secretaries who normally cluttered the place were already off for the weekend, and in the kitchens the cook was preparing a light lunch of staggering ordinariness." This is a wonderful satire on the pomposity of British politics that revolves around filling the seat of a Tory MP after an apparent suicide.

Barnard is witty and trenchant. His books are a delight. Also recommended is C.P. Snows' [b:The Masters by CP Snow|447945|The Masters (Strangers and Brothers)|Charles Percy Snow|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174861726s/447945.jpg|1878640].

Bootham, in Yorkshire, is a small, dull town. When their Member of Parliament is found dead int the Thames, Bootham suddenly is news worthy.

The death of the Honourable James Partridge leaves Bootham without an MP, which causes a by-election to be called. The slate of candidates is long and the variety plenty. Among them are some who appear to be good candidates for being the murder of PM Partridge, according to London Police Superintendent Sutcliffe.

Sutcliffe has been assigned the case and sent north. He doesn’t accept the possibility of suicide. Mrs. Partridge shows no real sorrow when interviewed. Some of the candidates have their eyes only on Partridges’ empty seat in Parliament. Too many options than suicide in Sutcliffe’s show more eyes.

Barnard paints a good image of dull Bootham and the characters involved; the posturing of the candidates, the opinions, or lack of, from the residents. There is a nice touch of tongue-in-cheek to be found, regarding the political world in the 1980s, as the story moves along

I recently read “Fète Fatale” by Barnard and enjoyed it too. This did not disappoint. show less

Inspector Sutcliffe of Scotland Yard is near retirement when he is assigned ot look into the death of Robert Partridge a member of Parliament. It's not clear if Partridge's death was suicide or murder so Sutcliffe begins investigating the three primary canidadtes running for Partridge's seat. Barnard always has humor mixed in with his mysteries. I think I would have got more of the humor in this book if I knew a lot more about British politics. This was still a good read and it does have an interesting underlying message about animal rights.

English politics lead to murder