False Wall

February 29, 2016
Bea Abbot faces a host of problems in Heley’s muddled 10th mystery featuring the domestic agency proprietress (after 2015’s False Impression). First, the brick wall that separates her suburban London property from that of her multibillionaire fiancé, Leon Holland, suddenly collapses, knocking over a sycamore tree and leaving her garden devastated. Soon afterward, the police find human remains in Leon’s garden. At a party at another neighbor’s house, someone drugs Bea’s drink. In a panic, Bea goes in search of Leon, only to look out a window and see that her house is on fire. She later worries that if she has to leave her damaged home, she’ll have no agency—and no income. Both resolute and needy, Bea must rely on her detection skills and her friends’ help to determine who’s got it in for her and why. Though everything fits together in the end, too many characters with multiple agendas make for an incoherent puzzle.

Starred review from January 20, 2014
Greed, family disharmony, and ambition come together with murderous results in Heley’s excellent eighth Abbot Agency mystery (after 2013’s False Alarm). Bea Abbot, the head of a London domestic agency, is once again in the midst of it all, and, this time, much of it is personal. Dilys Holland is very afraid of her husband, Benton, and it soon becomes obvious that his abuse of her extends to others. Benton will stop at nothing to make himself more rich and powerful at the expense of the Holland family business, and Bea learns that her son, Max, is involved with Benton’s machinations. When Ginevra Benton, Benton’s sister, starts to make trouble, more questions arise, and the body count begins to climb. Bea is no professional investigator, but Detective Inspector Durrell has come to appreciate her abilities and is glad of her help when Bea secures photos that show an attempted suicide is anything but. Suspense and betrayal combined with appealing players make this a superior series entry.

February 1, 2016
Provider of domestic services Bea Abbot (False Impression, 2015 etc.) suffers domestic problems aplenty when a neighbor knocks his garden wall into her yard. Bea's property backs two others. One belongs to her fiance, Sir Leon Holland, the other to Adm. Payne and his wife, Lady Edith. Sir Leon's is vacant during renovations, but the Paynes have a houseful of grandchildren plus Lady Payne's sister, Mona Barwell, who seems to live in the basement. When someone tries to clear the ivy off the Paynes' back wall, a chain of misfortune follows. Tugging on the roots of the ivy undermines the wall's mortar, and it breaks apart, sending a shower of bricks onto Bea's property and toppling a huge sycamore onto her back lawn. Instead of apologizing, the Paynes blame her. They invite her and Sir Leon to a cocktail party, where Lady Edith lures them into deserted parts of the house, drugs them, splashes them with gin, and tries to take incriminating photos. The pair escape but not before someone sets Bea's house on fire. When she returns from the hospital, Bea finds her agency's office area destroyed. Sir Leon, who seems to have turned against her, takes off for business in Dubai, where her phone messages are intercepted by Zoe, his personal assistant. Fortunately, her friends come to the rescue. Private detective Hari Silva jawbones jobbers into coming in on Sunday to start restorations, and his wife, Anne, supplies food. Bea's ex-husband, Piers, moves her parlor furniture upstairs so she can set up an office on the first floor. Computer whiz Keith installs a bank of laptops. Even former lodgers Maggie and Oliver come lend a hand. With all her pals' to-ing and fro-ing, there's barely time for Bea to investigate the pile of human bones the police find in Sir Leon's backyard. Indomitable Bea barely wilts in the face of adversity and even finds time to give the police a hand.

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April 1, 2016

The collapse of a garden wall dividing Bea's property from her friend Leon's newly acquired home unearths a human skeleton. The proprietor of the Abbot Agency begins to wonder about the property's previous owners. Bea must protect both her business and her friendship with Leon. Readers will not be disappointed in the tenth book of the series (False Impression); excellent characterizations and plotting abound.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2016
Bea Abbott may look like a dithery old lady, but that's far off the mark. Bea runs a successful domestic agency in London, solves the occasional mystery, and has a strong religious faith to support her when times get tough. In her latest adventure, Bea is shocked when the solid brick wall separating her property from her neighbors' falls down, with massive damage to her backyard. When the owner of the fallen wall invites Bea and her longtime beau, Leon, to a party shortly afterward, she thinks it must be to make up for the damage their wall did. Instead, she and Leon are drugged and photographed in compromising, albeit falsely arranged, circumstances, and Bea's house is set on fire. It takes all of Bea's courage to face the fact that her neighbors have attacked her, and as she digs into possible motives, she uncovers a desperate and dangerous family willing to take any risk to preserve their profligate lifestyle. An intriguing plot, a tough-minded heroine, and a satisfying ending make this an entertaining read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)