Peter
Robinson
This
stand-alone crime novel by the author of the Inspector Banks series won the
2012 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel. Before the Poison explores how the sexist attitudes of 1950s rural
England contaminated the inquiry into a local doctor’s death. A murder trial
follows, and the physician’s wife is quickly sentenced to hang for the crime.
In
2010, almost sixty years later, the dead clinician’s isolated Kilnsgate House
gets a new owner: Chris Lowndes, a Hollywood film composer. Chris becomes
fascinated with the long-ago murder trial, and he believes—he’s not sure why—that
the doctor’s wife was innocent.
And the
woman’s ghost seems to be haunting Kilnsgate House.
Don’t
worry, this setup isn’t as clichéd as it sounds. In fact, the answer to the
mystery plot is one of the most psychologically subtle I’ve ever read. Having
said that, I loved the spookiness of Kilnsgate House and Chris’s uncanny
experiences in it.
An
“escape” in the good sense, Robinson’s strong descriptions brought me right
into a chilly English autumn and winter, and into the coziness of sitting by a
pub fireplace. And if you want fully-rounded characters in your crime fiction,
this novel delivers.
I've been a fan of Robinson's Inspector Banks novels for years. And this will be my next read, for sure. I like that the review gives an interesting overview of the plot but doesn't give away any details!
ReplyDeleteI tried reading one of the Inspector Banks novels a few years ago, and for some reason it failed to light my fire; I gave up about one-third in. This book, however, made me see just how good a writer Peter Robinson can be.
ReplyDelete