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The Midnight Hour: Twisty mystery from the bestselling author of The Locked Room (The Brighton Mysteries)
by Griffiths, Elly
- Used
- Very Good
- Paperback
- Condition
- Very Good
- ISBN 10
- 1787477606
- ISBN 13
- 9781787477605
- Seller
-
Hereford, Herefordshire, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Quercus, 14/04/2022 00:00:01. paperback. Very Good. 2.4000 in x 19.6850 in x 12.7903 in.
Reviews
On Jan 22 2022, a reader said:
The Midnight Hour is the sixth book in The Brighton Mysteries series by British author, Elly Griffiths. When elderly impresario Bert Billington's youngest son, Aaron suggests to the Brighton Police that his mother, former variety dancer, Verity Malone poisoned her husband, she engages Holmes and Collins Detective Agency to investigate.
It's a little awkward: the first time Emma Holmes is at odds with her husband, Superintendent Edgar Stephens, as his team tries to discover who fed Bert rat poison. Police and PIs question many of the same people for information, but sometimes their methods yield different results. What does come to light is that there are plenty of people with potential grudges against the old man, and that there was a mystery caller to the house in the hours before Bert died.
And then there is another murder: a different MO, but with certain common aspects, with the result that Emma and WDC Meg Connolly head to Liverpool to interview a couple with a historical bearing on the cases, and from there, unexpectedly to Whitby, where Bert and Verity's middle son Seth and Max Mephisto are filming a Dracula movie.
Bert's reputation as a philanderer swells the list of those with grievances to the families of used and discarded women, some of whose lives he ruined without qualm. Nor do all of his own family hold him in high esteem. But the second victim was a favourite with almost everyone: what could the motive be?
Griffiths certainly has the reader second-guessing themselves as they settle on a perpetrator, only to be pointed elsewhere as further facts come to light. There are a number of red herrings and plenty of misdirection, from both the characters and the author. At one stage Emma reminds herself that she is dealing with "Actors and acting. Costume and disguise."
Once again, Griffiths uses multiple narrators to convey different parts of the story as well as to give different perspectives on events. The story plays out over about six weeks against a background of The Moors Murders. The mid-1960's era ensures the absence of mobile phones, internet, DNA and even many personal vehicles; thus the detective work relies on heavily on legwork, and intelligent deduction.
Fans will be pleased to have another peek into the lives of this particular cast as the characters grow and develop and face the challenges of the changing world that was the nineteen-sixties. Despite the still-rampant sexual discrimination to which they are subject, Emma, Sam, Meg and Ruby are coming into their own, quietly taking charge of their lives and making their own decisions. This is addictive historical crime fiction.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Wyemart Limited
(GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- mon0000334071
- Title
- The Midnight Hour: Twisty mystery from the bestselling author of The Locked Room (The Brighton Mysteries)
- Author
- Griffiths, Elly
- Format/Binding
- Paperback
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- ISBN 10
- 1787477606
- ISBN 13
- 9781787477605
- Publisher
- Quercus
- Date Published
- 14/04/2022 00:00:01
- Size
- 2.4000 in x 19.6850 in x 12.7903
- X weight
- 0.2501 lb
Terms of Sale
Wyemart Limited
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Wyemart Limited
Biblio member since 2020
Hereford, Herefordshire
About Wyemart Limited
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