One Dead Tory - Hardcover

Cook's exhaustive depiction of British party politics may dampen American readers' interest in this third tale, after Dead Fit and Upperdown, starring Detective Sergeant Judy Best. Judy discovers the body of Conservative councilman John Bullock at the bottom of a quarry and must fight for the high-profile case. Bullock's death is cause for celebration among many local constituencies: the poor of the borough, those paying the heavy poll tax, labor supporters and even Conservative voters who opposed his hard-line views and gruff manner. There are few additional mourners among his nonpolitical acquaintances, including a disgruntled partner in a real estate business, an indifferent wife and a blackmailer. Best, trying to impress her boss, wends her way through a chauvinistic world to a satisfying resolution. Cook's observations are sharp but fussy: scenes tend to drag under the weight of extended descriptions. This competent work is in the same vein, but missing the light touch, of Simon Brett's or Robert Barnard's stories.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.