From Booklist
When Meredith Mitchell looks up from her foreign-service desk in London and sees her old friend Toby, back from a posting in Beijing, she is not pleased to hear him ask for a favor--not just of her but also of her fiance, Dectective Superintendent Alan Markby. Alison Jenner, a relative of Toby's, is receiving poison-pen letters referring to the death of her aunt decades before--a murder for which Alison was accused and acquitted. While Meredith and Alan think about their upcoming wedding, another murder brings the old one to the fore, and they find themselves hip deep not only in the investigation but also in the garden, country, pub, and family life of a particular English village. Granger has a winning way with color and structure, and although both characterization and plot get a bit shrill at the end, her latest is an absorbing and well-paced village mystery. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Book Description
Meredith Mitchell is delighted when an old friend from her consular days, Toby Smythe, turns up on leave between foreign postings. But Toby has a problem---or rather his relative Alison Jenner has---and Toby wants to enlist the help of Meredith's fiancé, Detective Superintendent Alan Markby. Alison has been receiving anonymous hate mail in which reference is made to a time twenty-five years earlier when she stood trial for the murder of her aunt, Freda Kemp, but was acquitted. Who is the writer, and how does he or she know about this secret in Alison's past?
Markby is reluctant to become involved, not least because Toby is hardly his favorite person. Besides, he and Meredith are planning their wedding, and distractions aren't welcome. But inquiries into a poisoned pen campaign soon turn into a murder investigation.
With the help of Inspector Jessica Campbell, a new member of Markby's team, and the non-professional but enthusiastic assistance of Meredith and Toby, the inquiry unravels a twenty-five-year-old mystery and its dreadful legacy of violence.
From the Inside Flap
Praise for Ann Granger
"The village mystery observes more stringent procedures than a military task force...the style must be witty, the setting picturesque, and the characters amusingly idiosyncratic....Ann Granger knows the drill so well she could write a manual."
- The New York Times on Flowers for His Funeral
"The characters are believable and likeable, [with] enough British village touches to satisfy fans of the genre, and enough intelligent writing not to make us feel too silly for being hooked."
- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on A Season for Murder
"Thoroughly absorbing [and] smoothly written...Granger shows how well she has mastered her craft. . . . This engrossing novel is sure to delight."
- Publishers Weekly on Shades of Murder
"Granger deftly demonstrates that there's plenty of life still left in the traditional 'cozy' formula."
- The Washington Post on Call the Dead Again
About the Author
Ann Granger, like Meredith Mitchell, has worked in British embassies in various parts of the world. She met her husband, who was also working for the British Embassy, in Prague, and together they received postings to places as far apart as Munich and Lusaka. They are now permanently based in Bicester, near Oxford. That Way Murder Lies is Granger's fifteenth Mitchell and Markby mystery.
That Way Murder Lies FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Meredith Mitchell is delighted when an old friend from her consular days, Toby Smythe, turns up on leave between foreign postings. But Toby has a problem - or rather his relative, Alison Jenner, does - and Toby wants to enlist the help of Meredith's fiance, Detective Superintendent Alan Markby. Alison has been receiving anonymous hate mail in which reference is made to a time twenty-five years earlier when she stood trial for the murder of her aunt, Freda Kemp, but was acquitted. Who is the writer, and how does he or she know about this secret in Alison's past?" "Markby is reluctant to become involved, not least because Toby is hardly his favorite person. Besides, he and Meredith are planning their wedding, and distractions aren't welcome. But inquiries into a poisoned pen campaign soon turn into a murder investigation." With the help of Inspector Jessica Campbell, a new member of Markby's team, and the nonprofessional but enthusiastic assistance of Meredith and Toby, the inquiry unravels a twenty-five-year-old mystery and its dreadful legacy of violence.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Poisoned pen letters accuse Alison Jenner of murdering her aunt, a crime for which she was acquitted 25 years earlier. Fortunately, Alison can turn for help to diplomat Meredith Mitchell and her fiance, Det. Supt. Alan Markby, in British author Ann Granger's That Way Murder Lies: A Mitchell and Markby Mystery, the suspenseful 15th book in a village cozy series noted for its clever plotting and convincing characters. Agent, Blake Friedmann. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Meredith Mitchell and fianc Det. Supt. Alan Markby (A Restless Evil) investigate a 25-year-old murder case after the woman acquitted back then receives threatening letters. Set in Granger's signature British village, this will please many. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Meredith Mitchell (Shades of Murder, 2001, etc.) just wants to help an old friend, but winds up embroiled in two murders spanning a quarter of a century. Superintendent Alan Markby warns his fiancee that Toby Smythe will bring nothing but trouble. But when her fellow foreign-service officer, newly home from Beijing, learns that Alison Jenner, wife of Toby's wealthy industrialist cousin Jeremy, has been receiving anonymous letters that accuse her of murdering her Cornish aunt Freda Kemp, he knows that Jeremy won't trust the local police to investigate. So Meredith persuades a reluctant Alan to find out who would dredge up the scandal 25 years after Alison's acquittal, and why. Meredith suspects that although she spends most of her time in a posh London flat, Fiona, Jeremy's daughter from a previous marriage, may be using the poison-pen letters to torment her stepmother-until Stebbings, the cantankerous caretaker at Overdale House, finds Fiona floating facedown in the lake. Now Alan must trust Jess Campbell, his most junior officer, to handle the locals while he tackles retired Chief Inspector Barnes-Wakefield and the players in the original Kemp inquiry. As the police proceed by the book, Meredith develops her own agenda, whisking Toby away to Cornwall on what could prove the most dangerous errand of all. Granger wisely keeps the Markby-Mitchell romance in the background as she highlights the submerged creepiness of the classic village murder. Agency: Blake Friedmann
Art & Photography
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