Curious Incident at Claridge's: An Antonia Darcy and Major Hugh Payne Investigation (An Antonia Darcy and Major Payne Mystery) - Hardcover

Raichev, R.T.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1569476330 ISBN 13: 9781569476338

Publisher: Soho Constable, 2010

Synopsis

Did the young and beautiful Lady Tradescant try to poison her elderly husband? If not, who did? There is no shortage of suspects. His eccentric twin sister Bettina, his disgruntled son Nicholas, his scheming daughter Olivia . . . Antonia Darcy and Hugh Payne face one of their most baffling cases.

Their investigation takes them from the luxury of Claridge’s Hotel to Mayholme Manor, a residential home for elderly gentlemen. This proves to be a distinctly sinister establishment, where they encounter the mysterious Doctor Fairchild and his albino manservant Madden. There seems to be a link in all of this to the Nuremberg trials. Did a royal figure secretly plot to save one of Hitler’s most notorious henchmen from the gallows? And how does that relate to the murder?

About this title

About the Author:

R.T. Raichev is a researcher and writer who grew up in Bulgaria and wrote a university dissertation on English crime fiction. He is the author of five novels in the Antonia Darcy series and has lived in London since 1989.

From Publishers Weekly:

Raichev's mannered sleuthing couple, Maj. Hugh Payne and his wife, mystery writer Antonia Darcy, tackle their fifth case (after 2009's The Little Victim) in rather disappointing fashion. While dining at Claridge's in London, Captain Jesty, a regimental comrade of Payne's who's enamored of a beautiful young woman, Penelope Tradescant, observes Penelope surreptitiously switch capsules in the pill case of her much older, wealthy husband, Sir Seymour Tradescant. Within days Sir Seymour is dead in circumstances that leave many other suspects, including his twin sister, his son, and members of Mayholme Manor, a retreat where Seymour often stayed. Set in the present but written in classic British mystery style, this slight effort often refers to the dos and don'ts of mystery writing, not all of which the author follows. Providing a deus ex machina solution when Darcy says she'd never do so in her own detective novels, for example, will strike some readers as more lame than clever. (Apr.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Soho Constable
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1569476330
• ISBN 13: 9781569476338
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320