From Library Journal
Inspector Luke Thanet (Once Too Often) puzzles over another classic case of murder: a local barrister's wife disappears in the middle of a party at her own house and is found dead. Thanet must figure out which of the many who hated her succeeded in killing her. A sure bet.Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Another of the authors literate explorations of life and death in the town of Sturrenden and environs, where Inspector Luke Thanet and his faithful Sergeant Lineham bear the brunt of infrequent murder investigations (Once Too Often, 1998, etc.). The victim now is Virginia Mintaurwife of lawyer Ralph, mother of Caroline and Rachelwhose body has been found at the bottom of the decorative well adorning her prized garden. Virginia had disappeared the previous evening while entertaining neighbors Howard and Marilyn Squires; Rachel and tennis coach Matthew Agon, who have just announced their engagement; and Virginias sister Jane and her boyfriend Arnold Prime. When the postmortem indicates murder, Thanet probes for means and motives. The latter abound as Virginias many extramarital beaux come to light, among them Squires and Agon, with Prime clearly next in line. Theres no love lost, either, between Virginia and Ralphs mother, an acerbic globetrotter who lives in an annex of the Mintaur house. Is there some connection to Carolines elopement four years ago with the gardeners son Dick Swain, whose witchlike mother still lives nearbythe couple unheard from all this time? Malice and mischief, past and present, provide a wealth of motives until Thanet, besieged by family worries of his own, manages to solve more puzzles than one. Straightforward and absorbing, deftly written and adroitly plotted: another quiet winner for Simpson. -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review
The New York Times Book Review A master of plot manipulation.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Serious crime isn't suposed to happen in elegant English country homes, especially not in such families as that of Queen's counsel Ralph Mintar, a prominent barrister who's destined to become a high-court judge.

So it's particularly shocking when Mintar's attractive wife, Virginia, goes missing just after a small dinner party. Her disappearance is eerily reminiscent of the day four years before, when the Mintars' adult daughter Caroline left the house, never to return.

Caroline seems to have vanished off the face of the earth, but Virginia's body is soon found at the bottom of a garden well, and Inspector Like Thanet and his partner, Sergeant Mike Lineham, who are called in to investigate, quickly discard any idea of accidental death. Virginia was the perfect murder victim. Her outrageous flirting made her many enemies, several of whom were there on the night of her death. They had both reason and opportunity to kill her, but which one took the final, fatal step? Who wanted Virginia dead and gone?

Who was Virginia's latest lover? What does her mother-in-law have to hide? What about Caroline's younger sister and her womanizing fiance? Thanet and Lineham wonder how they can even begin to unravel the morass of family secrets that complicate this case.

Distracted by his own daughter Bridget's dangerous pregnancy and pushed by his boss to find hard evidence in this high-profile homicide, Luke Thanet feels pressured as never before as he probes into the life and death of one of the most poignant and, finally, shocking cases of his career.

Always a skilled mistress of the classic British crime novel, award-winning author Dorothy Simpson is at the top of her form in this powerful novel of family love gone tragically wrong.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal