False Diamond

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.

July 23, 2012
In Heley’s engaging 13th Ellie Quicke whodunit (after 2011’s Murder My Neighbour), widowed Ellie must deal with a ragtag bunch of guests under her London roof. The trouble starts after her irresponsible daughter, Diana, announces that she’s pregnant by ruthless local real estate magnate Evan Hooper. Though upset by the prospect of the thrice-married man she calls “the Great White Shark” becoming her son-in-law, Ellie finds herself helping the Hooper family after a suspicious fire consumes their house. She takes in Evan’s spurned daughter, Freya, and soon-to-be ex-wife, Angelika, but, as one disaster after another strikes the Hoopers, finds herself torn between the instinctive desire to protect Diana and the suspicion that she may be the culprit. Ellie is as spirited as ever, and her daughter as detestable, in this entertaining entry.