A Day for Dying (Inspector Luke Thanet Series #13)

by Dorothy Simpson

Overview

“A master of plot manipulation. . . . The pleasure here is watching [Inspector] Thanet . . . arrive at an understanding of what would make a person kill for love.” —The New York Times Book Review

The thirteenth novel in the British mystery series featuring Inspector Luke Thanet from the Silver Dagger Award–winning author Dorothy Simpson, “a modern-day version of Agatha Christie” (Booklist).

When playboy Max Jeopard is killed at his own engagement party, Inspector Luke Thanet is called in to investigate and uncovers a host of suspects, including his fiancée, a jealous brother, an ex-girlfriend, and the victim’s future in-laws .

“This English village ‘cozy’ goes down well” —Library Journal

“A really excellent example of the genre: well thought out and equally well executed, with some cunningly concealed surprises. Inspector Thanet is a definite find.” —Times Literary Supplement

“Pace, plot and subtle characterisations all combine to make this a cracking good read.” —Sunday Telegraph

“Clean writing, shrewd portraits and tight plots.” —Financial Times

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501165566
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	02/13/2024
Series:	Inspector Luke Thanet Series , #13
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	290
Sales rank:	10,130
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Dorothy Simpson was born in South Wales and went to Bristol University, where she studied languages before moving to Kent, the setting for her Inspector Thanet mystery novels. She is the winner of a Silver Dagger Award from the Crime Writers’ Association of Great Britain.
Dorothy Simpson (b. 1933) was born and raised in South Wales, and went to Bristol University, where she studied modern languages before moving to Kent, the setting for her Inspector Thanet Mysteries. After spending several years at home with her three children, she trained as a marriage guidance counselor and subsequently worked as one for thirteen years before writing her first novel. Says Simpson, “You may think that marriage guidance counselor to crime writer is rather a peculiar career move, but although I didn’t realize it at the time, of course, the training I received was the best possible preparation for writing detective novels. Murder mysteries are all about relationships which go disastrously wrong, and the insights I gained into what makes people tick, into their interaction and motivations, have been absolutely invaluable to DI Thanet, my series character, as have the interviewing skills I acquired during my years of counseling.”
 

Editorial Reviews

In his 13th appearance, following No Laughing Matter, Inspector Luke Thanet has ample opportunity to display the sympathetic and acute investigative technique that has earned a Silver Dagger award for the author of this British series. Dead is Max Jeopard, a handsome, outwardly charming playboy and travel writer found floating in the swimming pool at his own engagement party. Among the family and guests at the impressive family home of his fiance, Tess Sylvester, Thanet finds many with both motive and opportunity for murder. Among them are the victim's brother Hartley, who was Tess's former boyfriend, and Anthea Greenway, who was dropped by Max when he took up with Tess. There's Tess herself, whose relationship with Max was volatile; her parents, each with reason to lament the prospect of Max as a son-in-law; Tess's schizophrenic brother, who escaped the watch of his nurse at the same time Max disappeared; and Gerald Argent, the man whom Tess spurned for Max. Thanet's deft probing reveals an increasingly ugly portrait of the victim and uncovers more than one secret and more than one crime in the lives, loves and tangled loyalties of the suspects. This is a solid, if unexceptional, offering from Simpson. (May)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Inspector Luke Thanet and Sergeant Mike Lineham head the investigation into the apparent murder of Max Jeopard, a handsome but manipulative scion of a wealthy family. The disparity between a policeman's wage and the showy affluence of Jeopard's Tudor mansion gives rise to trenchant observation as Thanet and Lineham interrogate the usual suspects-spurned lover, jealous ex-boyfriend, disapproving father-with practiced adroitness, piecing together a picture of events. Simpson (No Laughing Matter, Scribner, 1993) is very good at dialog and characterization, so this English village "cozy" goes down quite well.

Library Journal

Sturrenden's Inspector Luke Thanet and his ever supportive Sergeant Mike Lineham are again investigating a murder in the upper-middle-class environs of town (No Laughing Matter, 1993, etc.). The victim is travel-writer-playboy Max Jeopard, who's found dead, fully clothed, in the swimming pool of hosts Ralph and Marion Sylvester, during a party celebrating Max's engagement to their daughter Tess. Max and Tess have had a stormy, off-on relationship, and the party itself seems to have been less than celebratory—with Max having been slapped by ex-girlfriend Anthea and snubbed by Tess's ex-fiancé Gerald Argent, and with the Sylvesters' schizophrenic son Carey having escaped briefly from the care of his nurse Michael Roper. Thanet spots something strange, too, in the relationship of the Sylvesters to their bejewelled, BMW-owning housekeeper Barbara Mallis. The key to it all lies in Max's monumentally selfish, charismatic persona, and Thanet, in one of his intuitive flashes, dredges up a bit of overlooked (but not by the alert reader) evidence and almost reluctantly nails down the culprit.

This time out, a rather subdued Thanet goes through his civilized paces, here dealing compassionately with a very contemporary dilemma and adding a thoughtful, readable, slightly tepid case history to the author's respected body of work.

Kirkus Reviews