Death's Bright Angel

Janet Neel’s “Death Among the Dons” was my crime novel discovery of last year, and so I decided to read her series about DI John McLeish and high-flying civil servant Francesca Wilson from the beginning.

”Death’s Bright Angel” starts with what could just be an ordinary London mugging, except that the attacker of the elderly accountant from Yorkshire does not content himself with taking his victim’s valuables – among them the expensive watch just received for twenty-five years’ of service and very proudly worn – but stops to make sure that Bill Fireman is well and truly dead.

The mystery in this volume is nowhere near as interesting and sophisticated as the one in “Dons” but it provides the stage for the two show more protagonists to meet and for us to get to know both them as well as Francesca’s large family. And as in “Dons”, it was fascinating to read about Francesca’s bosses and colleagues – people so competent and confident it’s a marvel to behold. Francesca herself has got to be one of the most accomplished heroines of 1980s crime literature (probably taking after her author).

For reasons unclear to me (and an e-mail enquiry went unanswered), Ostara has republished only four of the seven Wilson/McLeish books but I have tracked down a used copy of another edition of the second volume and am looking forward to my next outing with what may be British crime lit’s most interesting power couple since Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. show less

As usual for a mystery novel set in London, the city itself is a principle character. There really isn't a mystery, the story is all milieu and romance. The book was originally published in the late '80s, by an author who was nearly 50. People with dyed hair occasionally make an appearance, not as characters, but as window dressing.