An Empty Death

by Laura Wilson Narrated by Seán Barrett

Overview

After almost five years of conflict, London's exhausted inhabitants are living in a world of dereliction. War-weary DI Ted Stratton is no exception, but he cannot help being drawn in by his latest case. Called on to investigate when a doctor is found dead in Fitzrovia's Middlesex Hospital, Stratton soon realizes that someone involved is not who they appear to be. Meanwhile Jenny, Ted's wife, is working at the local Rest Centre. When a bombed-out woman appears at the centre, declaring that the man claiming to be her husband is an imposter, Jenny thinks that it must be due to shock. The reality, however, is far more dangerous... Ultimately, for Stratton and Jenny perhaps there is only one thing they can trust: their fear.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Set in war-weary 1944 London, Wilson's second thriller featuring Scotland Yard Det. Insp. Ted Stratton falls short of the high standard set by its predecessor, The Innocent Spy, which won the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Award. When Stratton looks into the suspicious death of Dr. Reynolds, whose fatal head wounds might have resulted from foul play or a falling bomb, the inspector discoversthat Reynolds may have been fooling around with the nurses at his hospital, and that the physician may have been negligent in the handling of several patients who ended up dying. Wilson alternates between Stratton's perspective and that of a psychopath who infiltrates the staff of Reynolds's hospital by posing as a doctor, James Dacre, despite the absence of any medical training. Dacre manages to avoid being found out for an unrealistic length of time, but that improbability is dwarfed by the over-the-top ending that vitiates almost all the emotional force of the novel's opening. (Mar.)

Library Journal

MDCI Ted Stratton (The Innocent Spy) dodges Nazi flying bombs in 1944 war-torn London while investigating two murders involving the medical community at Middlesex Hospital. World War II is fertile ground for the modern mystery (see John Lawton's Inspector Troy series and James R. Benn's Billy Boyle novels), and Wilson exploits the confusion that happens when people are focused on the greater threat and lose sight of the evil closer to home. She uses the plot device of Capgras syndrome (not recognizing a relative or spouse) and Stratton's professional and personal strengths to carry this unusual and convoluted tale to an unexpected conclusion. VERDICT Fans of the moody historical mysteries by Charles Todd and Rennie Airth will enjoy discovering a new author.

Kirkus Reviews

Was it death by enemy doodlebug or something more personal?

DI Stratton (The Innocent Spy,2009, etc.) is called to a bomb site and a body that seems to be one more unidentified casualty of the Blitz. But on the autopsy table at Middlesex Hospital, the pathologist recognizes Duncan Reynolds, a staff physician, and will only commit to the diagnosis that Dr. Reynolds died from a great cranial wallop, perhaps from bomb debris, perhaps not. When Stratton begins questioning hospital employees about Reynolds, he learns from Nurse Leadbetter that the married medico and the beautiful Nurse Fay Marchant may have been intimate. Fay, who captivated not only Reynolds but new hospital physician James Dacre, seems innocent enough until Stratton catches her in several small lies and Dacre, obsessed with her, tries to compensate. A busy man, Dacre, who is not really a doctor at all, but a mortuary attendant impersonating one, must kill to protect his deceit. Leadbetter is strangled. Fay loses morphine vials. Stratton zeroes in on Dacre, who decides to murder him. Their conflict leads to a heart-wrenching, life-and-death drama involving Stratton's wife and culminates in an unexpected plot twist.

The author offers vivid depictions of wartime London and Capgras Syndrome (a delusional disorder), not to mention a death that will leave you weeping.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170421312
Publisher:	Isis Publishing Ltd
Publication date:	11/01/2009
Series:	Ted Stratton
Edition description:	Unabridged

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