Sins of the Fathers

November 1, 2006
Chief Constable Marlowe, the ever-present enemy of Chief Inspector Woodend ("Stone Killer"), is beaten out of the running for Parliament by wealthy Bradley Pine. But Pine is then murdered, and Marlowe, who takes Pine's place in the election, gives the case to Woodend with the admonishment that he not look into Pine's background too closely. Woodend's homicide team immediately begins to dig, and the facts they uncover force them to reconsider the death of Alec Hawtrey, Pine's mentor and business partner, who was killed years earlier in a mountain climbing accident involving Pine. Set in 1960s Lancashire, Spencer's procedurals feature personable and flawed characters and are as finely plotted as the crime novels of Minette Walters and Jo Bannister. Spencer, who usually ends each book with a hint of what's to come in the next entry, lives in Spain.

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