Sour Grapes

Postgraduate criminology major Emma Gnatche is writing a thesis on the use of lie detecting devices in solving crimes. In her research, Emma comes across the strange case of accountant Andrew Lutterworth, a man serving four years for a fatal hit and run in which he changes his plea three times, with the last one being that he is innocent. Emma is curious as to when did he lie?Emma's friend, Willow King is married to a police superintendent. Using that connection, Willow and Emma manages to hook Andrew up to a lie detector where it become obvious that the man is hiding something, but does not necessarily mean he ran over the mother and baby. The pair begins to dig deeper into the case and follow-up with questioning Andrew again when he is hooked up to a lie detector. Will they ultimately unravel the convict's secret that he is hiding from them and is that associated with the hit and run deaths that convicted him?SOUR GRAPES is a wonderful English ! cozy that represents the best that the sub-genre offers. The two amateur sleuths are delightfully English in their pursuit of the truth. Their growing friendship provides a rarely seen female buddy team that is pleasant to read about in a fabulous tale. The stupendous story line is built around the intricacies of deceit and the ever growing web of lies to hide it, makes the novel into a chilling mystery. With her Willow King who-done-its (see ROTTON APPLES and POISON FLOWERS, etc.), Natasha Cooper may be the reigning queen of the English cozy mystery. Harriet Klausner