Call the Dead Again: A Meredith and Markby Mystery

While driving home, Meredith Mitchell picks up a hitchhiker whom she drops off near the home of European VIP Andrew Penhallow and his family. Meredith soon enjoys the comfort of being with her lover, police superintendent Alan Markby. The next day, Andrew's wife finds her spouse murdered. Suspicion immediately falls on the hitchhiker. Alan conducts an official investigation while Meredith makes her own inquiries. Apparently, the much traveled Andrew had two families with the hitchhiker being his neglected daughter from the other side of the tracks. However, were Kate's feelings strong enough to murder her father? Alan leans in that direction, but Meredith thinks otherwise and plans to sell her lover with a different scenario. CALL THE DEAD AGAIN, the eleventh Cotswold novel, is an interesting British police procedural that, like its predecessors, adds elements of an amateur sleuth to the tale. The story line moves rather quickly, only slowing down when Alan and Meredith are doing anything except sleuthing. The characters are warm and cozy. Of major interest is the victim, who dies in the first quarter of the novel, but the revelations about his life spin the story line forward. Ann Granger provides genre fans with a fine entry to the Mitchell and Markby Cotswold series.Harriet Klausner

You should enjoy the book even if you haven't read any of the earlier entries in the series. Ann Granger will gently fill you in on what has gone before. Marby and Meredith's relationship moves forward by the tiniest of steps, so you won't have missed much. The murder weapon is interesting. The mystery unravels nicely. You won't be sheltered from the hard facts of life, but you won't have your nose rubbed in them, either. Personally, I think every adulterer who thinks s/he is going to get away with it should read this book. It fits the old saying about being sure that your sin will find you out. (That's not giving away much. It's obvious early on that adultery is the root of the matter.) I've always enjoyed learning that an author whose works I like shares an interest. I'm pleased that Ms. Granger chose to mention *Sprig Muslin* of all of the late Georgette Heyer's many regency romances, because that's my favorite of her books. (From the description of the cover, I'm sure that mine is a different edition, though.) For readers who are not familiar with Heyer's work, she also wrote mysteries. "Penhallow", the name of one of the characters in this book, is the title of one of Heyer's mysteries. I really, really, hate the fact that so many hardcover books have boring or ugly dustjackets compared to paperback covers. I'm pleased that this mystery has a dustjacket that fits the mood of the book. [Note to the publisher: Given the title of the book, the last line of the quoted epitaph should probably be "call the dead" instead of "all the dead".] Ann E. Nichols