Publishers Weekly
Poisoned pen letters accuse Alison Jenner of murdering her aunt, a crime for which she was acquitted 25 years earlier. Fortunately, Alison can turn for help to diplomat Meredith Mitchell and her fiance, Det. Supt. Alan Markby, in British author Ann Granger's That Way Murder Lies: A Mitchell and Markby Mystery, the suspenseful 15th book in a village cozy series noted for its clever plotting and convincing characters. Agent, Blake Friedmann. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Meredith Mitchell and fianc Det. Supt. Alan Markby (A Restless Evil) investigate a 25-year-old murder case after the woman acquitted back then receives threatening letters. Set in Granger's signature British village, this will please many. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Meredith Mitchell (Shades of Murder, 2001, etc.) just wants to help an old friend, but winds up embroiled in two murders spanning a quarter of a century. Superintendent Alan Markby warns his fiancee that Toby Smythe will bring nothing but trouble. But when her fellow foreign-service officer, newly home from Beijing, learns that Alison Jenner, wife of Toby's wealthy industrialist cousin Jeremy, has been receiving anonymous letters that accuse her of murdering her Cornish aunt Freda Kemp, he knows that Jeremy won't trust the local police to investigate. So Meredith persuades a reluctant Alan to find out who would dredge up the scandal 25 years after Alison's acquittal, and why. Meredith suspects that although she spends most of her time in a posh London flat, Fiona, Jeremy's daughter from a previous marriage, may be using the poison-pen letters to torment her stepmother-until Stebbings, the cantankerous caretaker at Overdale House, finds Fiona floating facedown in the lake. Now Alan must trust Jess Campbell, his most junior officer, to handle the locals while he tackles retired Chief Inspector Barnes-Wakefield and the players in the original Kemp inquiry. As the police proceed by the book, Meredith develops her own agenda, whisking Toby away to Cornwall on what could prove the most dangerous errand of all. Granger wisely keeps the Markby-Mitchell romance in the background as she highlights the submerged creepiness of the classic village murder. Agency: Blake Friedmann
