Death Watch book cover

Death Watch

With unerring characterization, droll copper dialogue and a gritty London setting, Harrod-Eagles mines fresh pleasures from standard procedural resources. Bill Slider and his urbane subordinate Atherton identify the corpse found charred in a motel fire as that of Richard Neal, a man involved with many women. As Slider and Atherton follow up leads, several earlier deaths connect to suggest a strange pattern. Harrod-Eagles slyly sifts various strata of society in this admirable second novel.

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

We expect sensitive coppers in British police procedurals to empathize with murder victims, but Bill Slider finds himself at something of an emotional loss when the victim is Dick Neal, a loudmouthed travelling salesman who leaves a bitter wife and a slew of mistresses behind when he dies in a suspicious motel room fire. In his painstaking efforts to learn what kind of person Dick Neal really was and what he did to get himself murdered, Slider discovers some unsettling truths about himself. A lively and witty writer. Integrating romance and suspense with the same artful grace she achieved in her first mystery, the author is well on her way to an outstanding series.

NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

The mystery is a good one, its investigation is workmanlike, and the writing is assured and even elegant.

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

There is a briskness and unpretentiousness to Harrod-Eagles’ writing… (she) keeps the plot moving with verve and wit and the whole thing is suitably entertaining.

MILLION

ISBN Hardback: 0-356-20768-4
ISBN Paperback: 0-7515-0087-9

Death Watch book cover