Die Happy

October 17, 2011
In Gregson’s amiable 24th police procedural set in Gloucestershire (after 2010’s In Vino Veritas), an embarrassment of suspects confronts Chief Supt. John Lambert and Det. Sgt. Bert Hook as they probe the source of death threats being sent to organizers of the Oldford Literary Festival—a group that includes Lambert’s wife. Lambert and Hook soon discover that for a passel of outwardly upstanding citizens, among them formidable retired civil servant Marjorie Dooks, promising poet Sam Hilton, and popular detective novelist Sue Charles, a surprising number have something unsavory to hide. But apparently none more so than pompous, self-styled cultural arbiter Peter Preston, who in addition to raising the hackles of almost everyone he encounters, even the usually unflappable Lambert, also has a dangerous hobby—delving into his neighbors’ dirty secrets. As the case escalates, so do the revelations. Unfortunately, despite the rich array of motives for murder, the eventual culprit proves less than convincing.

November 15, 2011
Death threats to a literary festival's planning committee seem more potent when one of the board's members is shot to death in his study. Everything seems to be rolling along for the Oldford Literary Festival committee. Under the determined leadership of former civil servant Marjorie Dooks, a fine slate of speakers has been assembled. Christine Lambert is on the verge of persuading her Chief Supt. husband John to appear alongside crime writer David Knight, who's been recruited by Oldford's own crime writer, Sue Charles. Of course, Knight's appearance itself raises the hackles of freelance BBC producer Peter Preston, who feels that the honor of appearing at the festival should be reserved for "real" writers like his old friend Denzil Carter. Preston also snipes at the committee's youngest members, poet Sam Hilton and painter Ros Barker, for what he regards as their naïve and uninformed view of the contemporary arts. But fractious as the committee can be, the formidable Mrs. Dooks keeps them moving forward, at least until a series of threatening messages begin to arrive at the various members' doors. Even more unsettling is the discovery of Preston's body, shot twice through the heart—an event that enlists John Lambert, along with his Sgt. Bert Hook (In Vino Veritas, 2010, etc.), to appear not just on the podium but at the scene of the crime. Like Marjorie's committee, Gregson's 14th Lambert and Hook adventure plows forward steadily, providing enjoyment for fans of the grill-'em-till-you-got-'em British procedural.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

November 1, 2011
In the latest in the long-running Lambert and Hook series, which began way back in 1989, a literary festival is the scene of the crime. Crimes, actually, threats against the members of the planning committee, followed by murders. A suspect emerges early on, even before the murders, but, as DCI Lambert and DS Hook know all too well, what seems to be obvious and true often is not. Unlike Isaac Asimov's Murder at the ABA (1976), which was set at an American booksellers' convention, this novel uses the literary festival merely as a way to get the story going. This isn't a criticism, just a heads-up to fans of literary-themed mysteries that this isn't really one of those. But it is a good old-fashioned mystery, with plenty of suspense, twists and turns, and abundantly real characters. A worthy entry in an always interesting series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)