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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN num: 9780312972950
ISBN number: 0312972954
Label: St. Martin's Minotaur
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Minotaur
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 400
Printing Date: August 15, 2000
Publishing house: St. Martin's Minotaur
Sale Popularity Level: 35128
Studio: St. Martin's Minotaur
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Product Description:
When bored young housewife Simone Hollingsworth misses bell-ringing practice-her latest effort to find something to do-no one is surprised. In fact, if old Mrs. Molfrey, her neighbor, didn't report it to Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby, Simone's disappearance might have gone unrecorded in Fawcett Green. But ever Barnaby isn't concerned-until a body is found.
Soon Barnaby is uncovering the passionate entanglements beneath the placid surface of Fawcett Green-and perhaps jeopardizing his career. Now, if he misconstrues the clue buried in Simone's garden-and a subtlety of human behavior his experienced eye should spot-a brutal killer may go free...
Amazon.com Review:
Can you name a mystery about bell ringing? Of course--The Nine Tailors, by Dorothy L. Sayers. How about another? Well, this book about small-town British coppers Chief Inspector Barnaby and Sergeant Troy might qualify: it begins when a young female campanologist in the village of Fawcett Green fails to show up for practice. Was Simone Hollingsworth kidnapped for ransom? Was her doting new husband involved? Or does her disappearance have something to do with her snooping neighbors--especially the neighbor's obsessive daughter? As she did so well in Written in Blood, Caroline Graham captures the inwardly seething inhabitants of a supposedly placid village with the skill of an expert entomologist observing an anthill. And Barnaby and Troy are once again the perfect pair: the chief inspector's calm introspection is a fine match for the younger, brasher officer's occasional outbursts and blunders. Not the least of Graham's accomplishments is keeping the subgenre of the traditional British village mystery fresh and meaningful. --Dick Adler
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Rated by buyers 
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When docile Simone Hollingsworth disappears her controlling husband soon assumes the guise of villain. But all is not as it seems in the placid village of Fawcett Green.
Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby and his bag carrier Sergeant Troy have come up against one of the cleverest criminals yet devised by author Caroline Graham and the novel has more twists and turns than a country road.
Graham is noted for character-driven novels with intricate plots and wry humor. This one has its share of eccentric village denizens, enough suspense to keep one turning the pages and a conclusion that's annoying yet totally plausible. Graham has a knack for occasionally breaking the rules of conventional mystery writing but her style is so engaging one can't help but forgive her quirks.
This is one of the best of the series.
Rated by buyers -
The book is very good. It is a little different than the t.v. series but it a good book with lots of little intrigues going on in the village. Of course CID Barney solves the mysteries. He is a well rounded person in the series so I enjoy the series.
Rated by buyers -
If you like "Midsomer Murders" you will like the Inspector Barnaby books by Caroline Graham. The "Midsomer Murders" series is loosley based on Graham's mysteries. You will find the character of Sergeant Troy is quite different in the television show. He is much more likable. I enjoy both the books and the show. Some people are turned off by the character of Troy, and that makes them dislike the books. I think the people in the series are very human. Some are fine and admirable, some are dreary, some are condescending (this is England, after all), some are nazis and chauvenists. Just like real life. I think the "cozy" provides a sampler of characters in the charming setting of the English village, otherwise there would be no story. Just scenery. So don't hate the books just because Troy is repellant. It is kind of different to get inside the mind of someone not so nice. "Faithful Unto Death" is my favorite Inspector Barnaby book. It is quite complicated, and I very much like the characters in this book. It is very good "cozy" reading, and much more intellectual and complex than my other favorite, Agatha Raisin (by M.C. Beaton).
Rated by buyers -
Another English inspector mystery starring Chief Inspector Barnaby, this one is a bit of a departure for Caroline Graham. All of the usual characters are still in play here: the villages of Ferne Basset and Fawcett Green, the town of Causton, Inspector Barnaby, his faithful-yet-shallow-yet-extremely talented sidekick Troy, and the usual CID cronies. This book is especially twisty and turny and a very fun ride. I tend to associate Caroline Graham with more straightforward, Agatha Christie-type whodunits, which have fun twists but not at every turn, for heaven's sake! The local village characters are outrageously well drawn; we've all had neighbors like some of these and Graham has captured all of them most perfectly. I didn't see the ending come on this one but I had my suspicions, which went back and forth for the whole book. Such is the good writing where you are forced to glance at everyone in the book with a jaundiced eye!
Rated by buyers -
Caroline Graham is often referred to as a modern-day Agatha Christie. Certainly her characters, humour and carefully crafted mystery story lines are reminiscent of the great Christie. But her books are also quite different. We don't see the detail in Christie's books that we see in Graham's. This particular book is funny and complex. It is also one of the best descriptions of a psycopathic personality that I have ever read. And it's done with so much class! Barnaby seems to have finally met his match with this villain, and you will have to read it to find out how.
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