The Little Victim

Retired judge Toby Leighton is heartbroken: his daughter Marigold (aka Ria) has gone off to live a dissolute life of prostitution and drugs, and she makes sure to write letters to him detailing her exploits just to rub salt in the wound. When she turns up in India, Toby hires a private investigator, the deeply alcoholic ex-Scotland Yard man Julian Knight, to keep him informed of her activities. Meantime, Antonia Darcy and her husband Hugh Payne are invited to travel to India with a friend of Hugh’s aunt, Charlotte Depleche, who is considering buying a mansion owned by wealthy gangster Roman Songhera - who happens to be Ria’s boyfriend despite the fact that he is married to someone else. When Antonia and Hugh are drawn into this show more circle of distasteful people, murder cannot be far behind….This is the fourth book featuring Antonia and Hugh, and it has many of the trademarks of the Golden Age mystery genre, including a wide cast of (mostly unpleasant) characters, a great deal of subplotting and huge heaps of misdirection. Plus, the chapter titles are often, if not always, book titles such as “The Mirror Cracked,” “The Bone Collector,” “Witness for the Prosecution” and “The Knight’s Tale,” to name a few. I liked this one more than the previous book, although it still feels a little stilted and self-consciously erudite; mildly recommended. show less