From Publishers Weekly
In her 11th mystery (after A Word After Dying) featuring British sleuthing duo Meredith Mitchell and her policeman lover, Alan Markby, Granger once again delivers a polished whodunit. A striking young woman hitchhikes her way to Bamford from London, and Mitchell gives her a lift to her destination: Tudor Lodge, the home of lawyer and European Union "mandarin" Andrew Penhallow. While his wife, Carla, is upstairs with a migraine, Penhallow confronts his unwelcome visitor, Kate Drago, alone. After stowing the young hitchhiker in a nearby seedy hotel, Penhallow returns home. Later that night, a knock at the back door brings Penhallow outside, where he is viciously attacked and murdered. Markby, who went to school with Penhallow, is called to the scene, and the investigation begins. Was Penhallow the victim of a terrorist attack? Or did Drago murder him? What is the young woman's connection with the victim and his family? Granger offers only a small cast of possible suspects, but manages to sustain the suspense of Mitchell's and Markby's investigation until the novel's tidy and believable conclusion. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
The morning after foreign service officer Meredith Mitchell drops a hitchhiker at a manor house outside Bamford, its owner is found murdered. Lover Alan Markby, detective, gets the case. More solid work for series fans. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
The day after a mysterious and beautiful hitchhiker asks to be dropped off at Andrew Penhallow's front gate, he turns up dead. It's up to Superintendent Alan Markby to discover the identity of the visitor and unravel the crime. Bill Wallis does his usual outstanding job. Much of the dialogue is highly emotional, and the reading conveys this intensity believably. While the major characters are from the same social class and background, Wallis manages to make each voice distinct. And when given the opportunity to portray someone completely different, such as an old crone or a troubled adolescent, Wallis's reading shines. R.E.K. (c) AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Kirkus Reviews
Driving home one evening, Foreign Service worker Meredith Mitchell, longtime girlfriend of Bamford's Superintendent of Police Alan Markby (A Word After Dying, 1998, etc.), picks up a feisty young woman hitchhiker, dropping her, as requested, near Tudor Lodge, home of Carla and Andrew Penhallow and their son Luke. Penhallow is someone of importance in the European Uniona job that takes him abroad for months at a time, allowing him a second, secret family in Cornwall: his mistress, a painter with a small gallery, who died of cancer some time ago and his daughter Kate, the hitchhiker, whos now turned up on his doorstep. While wife Carla sleeps upstairs, suffering from a violent migraine, Kate confronts Penhallow with bitter accusations of neglect, even as she hopes for acknowledgment and a place in this family. He eventually takes Kate to a hotel and returns home, only to be found by Carla the next morning on the back lawnbludgeoned to death. Now starts the tedious business of questioning Kate (who promptly calls a lawyer friend) tracking down witnesses, and testing alibis until Markby has an inspired moment that leads him to a surprising killer. An intriguing start that bogs down midway, revives toward the finish, but gets no help at all from Alan and Merediths tepid affair. Still, warm and lively vignettes of an assortment of local characters will be a big plus for fans of the village scene. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.



"Ann Granger turns this venerable tradition on its thumping head."


Book Description
Meredith Mitchell and her long-time friend Inspector Alan Markby planned to do something special for the weekend--just to break the routine. As it happened, it was murder that changed their plans...Call the Dead AgainMeredith is hesitant about picking up the hitchhiker on a deserted road outside Bamford, yet with darkness approaching, she just can't leave the young girl alone. But when the stranger is evasive about why she's headed for the beautiful Tudor home of a prominent lawyer, Meredith begins to feel uneasy. And when the lawyer is found dead the next morning, Meredith fears her first instincts were right.Soon the intrepid sleuths team up to uncover the ghosts of the past and mysteries of the present--exposing some scandalous secrets that drove someone to mischief, madness...and murder.


About the Author
Like her heroine, Ann Granger has worked in the diplomatic service in various parts of the world. She met her husband, who was also working in 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.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

When Meredith Mitchell spots a hitchhiker on a lonely road outside Bamford one evening, she feels obliged to give her a lift. But Mitchell drops off her passenger feeling distinctly uneasy. Though pleasant enough, and despite her apparent self-confidence, the girl seems highly secretive. What business can she have at Tudor Lodge, the beautiful old home of Brussels-based lawyer Andrew Penhallow? Penhallow is constantly coming and going from the European mainland, but that night he is at home, and - with his son away and his wife in bed with a migraine - alone. The next morning he is found murdered in the garden. His death results in some spectacular revelations about a double life involving his mysterious visitor, Kate Drago. Might their meeting have escalated into a murderous fury? But Kate is not the only suspect. What about Harry Sawyer, owner of a nearby garage, who had a long-running dispute with Penhallow over land? Does the ne'er-do-well Joss family have anything to do with the killing? And what role does Kate's solicitor and friend, Freddie Green, play, arriving hotfoot from London to stake his client's claim to Penhallow's considerable estate? Superintendent Alan Markby investigates the ghosts of Penhallow's past as well as the secrets of the present. But when his colleague, Sergeant Prescott, inconveniently falls in love with the main suspect, Markby can rely only on his girlfriend, Meredith, to help him solve the case.

SYNOPSIS

Meredith Mitchell and her long-time friend Inspector Alan Markby planned to do something special for the weekend—just to break the routine. As it happened, it was murder that changed their plans...

Meredith is hesitant about picking up the hitchhiker on a deserted road outside Bamford, yet with darkness approaching, she just can't leave the young girl alone. But when the stranger is evasive about why she's headed for the beautiful Tudor home of a prominent lawyer, Meredith begins to feel uneasy. And when the lawyer is found dead the next morning, Meredith fears her first instincts were right.

Soon the intrepid sleuths team up to uncover the ghosts of the past and mysteries of the present—exposing some scandalous secrets that drove someone to mischief, madness...and murder.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

The morning after foreign service officer Meredith Mitchell drops a hitchhiker at a manor house outside Bamford, its owner is found murdered. Lover Alan Markby, detective, gets the case. More solid work for series fans. Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

AudioFile - Robert E. Krug

The day after a mysterious and beautiful hitchhiker asks to be dropped off at Andrew Penhallow's front gate, he turns up dead. It's up to Superintendent Alan Markby to discover the identity of the visitor and unravel the crime. Bill Wallis does his usual outstanding job. Much of the dialogue is highly emotional, and the reading conveys this intensity believably. While the major characters are from the same social class and background, Wallis manages to make each voice distinct. And when given the opportunity to portray someone completely different, such as an old crone or a troubled adolescent, Wallis's reading shines. R.E.K. ￯﾿ﾽ AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

Driving home one evening, Foreign Service worker Meredith Mitchell, longtime girlfriend of Bamford's Superintendent of Police Alan Markby (A Word After Dying, 1998, etc.), picks up a feisty young woman hitchhiker, dropping her, as requested, near Tudor Lodge, home of Carla and Andrew Penhallow and their son Luke. Penhallow is someone of importance in the European Union—a job that takes him abroad for months at a time, allowing him a second, secret family in Cornwall: his mistress, a painter with a small gallery, who died of cancer some time ago and his daughter Kate, the hitchhiker, who's now turned up on his doorstep. While wife Carla sleeps upstairs, suffering from a violent migraine, Kate confronts Penhallow with bitter accusations of neglect, even as she hopes for acknowledgment and a place in this family. He eventually takes Kate to a hotel and returns home, only to be found by Carla the next morning on the back lawn—bludgeoned to death. Now starts the tedious business of questioning Kate (who promptly calls a lawyer friend) tracking down witnesses, and testing alibis until Markby has an inspired moment that leads him to a surprising killer. An intriguing start that bogs down midway, revives toward the finish, but gets no help at all from Alan and Meredith's tepid affair. Still, warm and lively vignettes of an assortment of local characters will be a big plus for fans of the village scene.