Poison at the Pueblo (A Simon Bognor Mystery, 12) - Hardcover

Heald, Tim

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1780290101 ISBN 13: 9781780290102

Publisher: Severn House, 2012

Synopsis

A Simon Bognor mystery - At an exclusive language school in the hills outside Salamanca, former British gangster Jimmy Trubshawe is discovered flat on his back in his luxury cabin, clad only in boxer shorts and white socks, his face an unattractive shade of purple. He is, of course, extremely dead. The cause is soon established as the ingestion of poisonous mushrooms. But was the unfortunate Trubshawe’s fatal meal an accident – or murder? Alerted by his contacts in the Spanish Guardia Civil, Sir Simon Bognor decides it’s his business to find out . . .

About this title

About the Author:

Tim Heald (b. 1944) is a journalist and author of mysteries. Born in Dorchester, England, he studied modern history at Oxford before becoming a reporter and columnist for the"Sunday Times". He began writing novels in the early 1970s, starting with"Unbecoming Habits"(1973), which introduced Simon Bognor, a defiantly lazy investigator for the British Board of Trade. Heald followed Bognor through nine more novels, including"Murder at Moose Jaw"(1981) and"Business Unusual"(1989) before taking a two-decade break from the series, which returned in 2011 with"Death in the Opening Chapter".
Heald has further distinguished himself with official biographies of Prince Philip and Princess Margaret, as well as accounts of sporting heroes like cricket legends Denis Compton and Brian Johnston. He is also an experienced public speaker. Heald s forthcoming novel, "Yet Another Death in Venice"(2014), is the latest in the Bognor chronicles.

Review:

In Heald’s refreshingly light 12th Simon Bognor mystery (after 2011’s Death in the Opening Chapter), Bognor, the head of Special Investigations at the Board of Trade, is pleasantly surprised to get word from Downing Street that he’s receiving a knighthood. Despite this honor, Bognor locks horns with the prime minister over the investigator’s plan to journey to Spain to look into the death of Jimmy Trubshawe, a gang leader who perished from food poisoning after eating some mushrooms. Bognor hopes to use Trubshawe’s death as a way to get leverage over British expat criminals living on the Spanish coast. Against the prime minister’s wishes, Bognor and his enjoyably acerbic wife, Monica, travel to Madrid to start his inquiries. The author’s dry humor (“Doing nothing came naturally to him”) is a plus, as is a plot line that’s far from run-of-the-mill.

(Tim Heald Publishers Weekly)

About this edition

• Publisher: Severn House
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1780290101
• ISBN 13: 9781780290102
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 208