Wycliffe and the Redhead

Rating:
Summary: Wycliffe remains fresh in his 21st police procedural
Review:

George Barker was sent to prison for manslaughter, predominately based on the testimony of antique bookstore owner Simon Meager. After being held behind bars for six years, George is released, but almost immediately commits suicide. Morwenna, George's daughter, blames Simon over the misfortune that struck her family, starting with the incarceration of her father. Shockingly, Morwenna asks George for a job and even more stunning he gives her one.

However, not to long after that, Morwenna vanishes. Detective Superintendent Charles Wycliffe looks for the missing woman, who turns up dead, an apparent murder victim. Wycliffe begins an investigation by looking into the deceased's past, which he hopes will provide clues to the identity of the killer before anyone else is murdered.

WYCLIFFE AND THE REDHEADS is the twenty-first entry in what is one of the best British police procedural series on the market today and for the past two decades. Wycliffe remains a thoughtful fresh character, who feels like a member of the family. The secondary cast adds a Cornish flavor to a tasty who-done-it that is cleverly described by the great W.J. BURLEY.

Rating:
Summary: Burley deserves to be read.
Review: What a pity it is that most of Burley's books are already out of print when so many of the unbelievable female private eye series and those stupid cat mysteries are thriving. The Wycliffe stories are among the very best detective novels, ranking right up there with Georges Simenon's Maigret series. In fact, Wycliffe is very much like an English Maigret, a detective who builds his cases not so much upon factual evidence as upon his ability to feel the atmosphere of the crimes and the characters of the victims and the suspects. To call his novels "procedural" is not truly accurate, although there is plenty of good solid criminal investigation involved, with a very interesting cast of assistants. But the emphasis is always upon the very realistic characters, involved in real human activities. The reader becomes as engrossed in the lives of these people as Wycliffe is as he quietly soaks in the ambience of the Cornish villages, where most of the stories take place, and bit by bit learns the secrets that lie behind the motivations of the characters. If you have never read a Wycliffe novel, and if you love good writing, especially in the detective genre, give yourself a special treat and try this book.