A Study in Death - Hardcover

McDowall, Iain

2.79

24 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312278683 ISBN 13: 9780312278687

Publisher: Minotaur Books, 2001

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

Dr. Roger Harvey, an academic who pursues women and European history with equal passion, is found murdered in his apartment. Detective Sargent Ian Kerr and Detective Chief Inspector Frank Jacobson can discern no obvious motive for the murder. Harvey didn't do serious drugs and didn't have a criminal record. Not even his closest friends can throw any light on the mystery that threatens to unravel in every direction. Kerr and Jacobson find the case difficult to crack, which increases Jacobson's dependence on alcohol, and puts more pressure on Kerr's disintegrating marriage.

To untangle the dark threads of the mystery, the case takes them from Crowby University to Amsterdam, and involves everything from million dollar machinations in the software industry, to New Age cultists in the English Lake District.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:

Iain McDowall was born in Kilmarnock, Scotland. He worked as a philosophy lecturer and as a computer specialist before turning to crime writing. Currently he divides his time between Crowby and Cheltenham, both in Scotland.

From Publishers Weekly:

Twists in plot wait for the reader around every corner, while the cold rain and wind of a Scottish November penetrate this debut procedural that compares favorably with the work of the popular author of tartan noir, Ian Rankin. When Dr. Roger Harvey, a well-liked and respected history lecturer at Crowby College, is found dead in his home, Det. Chief Inspector Frank Jacobson and Det. Sergeant Ian Kerr and their team have little to go on. As they interview friends, associates and neighbors, they are led from a refuge house for battered women and the environs of Crowby to Amsterdam and the Lake District, and from Harvey's romantic entanglements to major software theft and a New Age cult, before the pieces come together in a surprising conclusion. McDowall expertly manages a complicated plot and has created realistic, albeit troubled characters: Jacobson struggles with feelings of inferiority and battles his vices unlike Rankin's Det. John Rebus, who has resigned himself to his; Kerr's marriage is on the rocks; and the suspects themselves are revealed to lead lives of desperation. No Gothic spires dispel the gloom of the concrete Crowby College, telephone and electrical wires obscure the views of the surrounding mountains, the tea is often cold and the coffee, awful. Dispelling old myths and fantasies, McDowall depicts Scotland as it is in the 21st century and has created a compelling, fast-moving story that leaves the reader wondering where he will go from here.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.