A Murder in Mayfair

April 3, 2000
Shortly after accepting a junior ministerial post in the Labor government that came to power in the last British general election, MP Colin Pinnock receives a postcard bearing the stark question: "Who Do You Think You Are?" As this literate mystery thriller unfolds, it becomes clear that the author of this cryptic message is less concerned with Colin's getting above himself than with his looking into his origins. Learning that he was adopted causes Colin scarcely a jolt, but it's quite another thing to discover that his real father might have been Lord John Revill, who disappeared in 1962 after apparently murdering his wife. By all reports, Lord John had been having an affair with his children's sexy Australian nanny. At 35, Colin is just the right age to be the offspring of this illicit liaison. Barnard, an eight-time Edgar Award finalist, presents a sympathetic protagonist and a compelling human tale with his customary subtlety and economy. Revelations, each more or less surprising, arrive at regular intervals, while the big questions--what was really going on in the Revill household before the murder and who is sending Colin increasingly serious threats--are fully answered only at the end. The good characters are all thoroughly decent chaps, while at the climax the villain, who is more mad than bad, pulls out a knife, not a gun. This understated British melodrama is as comforting as a nice cuppa.

November 1, 2000
YA-This mystery is set in modern-day London as a new Prime Minister takes office and begins installing junior ministers throughout the government. Colin Pinnock, an "up and coming politician," is chosen to serve in the Department of Education and Training. Dedicated and hard-working, he quickly calls for a meeting of his staff. As the permanent secretary and principal advisor to the Secretary of State enters the room, Pinnock is puzzled to see her shock and dismay as she is introduced to him. Returning home after the meeting, he finds a soiled postcard in the mail with the words, "Who do you think you are?" scribbled across it. These bizarre happenings trigger some childhood memories and Pinnock begins to investigate and finds surprising facts about himself and his parents. A baffling attempt on his life and a break-in at his home that will tarnish his reputation turn a good mystery into a thrilling one with nonstop plot twists and turns. Barnard mixes facts and fiction using a true-life murder that was committed in London during the 80s as the base of the story. Good and evil battle it out until the very last page in this suspenseful read.-Linda A. Vretos, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, VA

Copyright 2000 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2000
This latest expertly plotted whodunit from Barnard's reliable pen takes his readers into the halls of Parliament to observe Colin Pinnock, MP, enter the government as a junior minister in the department of education and training. Oh, isn't everybody happy for our young, rising politician. Well, not everyone, for Colin, still flush from his promotion, receives a perplexing and even intimidating message from an unknown person. The message seems to imply that Colin can't be certain of his parentage. Colin decides to investigate whether this is true, and the path he follows leads to an infamous figure once in the public eye and now presumed dead or in hiding, one Lord John Revill, who murdered his wife and was carrying on with their children's nanny. An important fact he comes across is that at the time the wife met her unfortunate end, the nanny was with child. Or was she with more than one child? Ah, therein lies the solution to the problem, and Barnard unfolds Colin's road to self-discovery with excellent pacing. ((Reviewed March 15, 2000))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)