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Rating: 
Summary: Fabulous traditional english mystery
Review: A very good mystery set in a small English village. I like the way Teri Holbrook writes, a little quirky, but it moves along well. A young girl dies in what is at first thought to be a bicycle accident but is soon discovered to be murder. Scotland Yard is called in because the girl's employer, an American, is the widow of a terrorist who killed himself in the village church three years earlier. There is no scarcity of murder suspects as the girl's life is gradually exposed as well as the lives of many of the villagers. I read Ms. Holbrook's second book, The Grass Widow, before I read this one and liked it very much. This one, however, is even better.
Rating:
Summary: TERIS NOVEL IS SUPERb! I COULDNT PUT IT DOWN!
Review: I loved this book! It was awesome!!! GO BUY IT NOW!!!!! Teri Holbrook is the best writer ever!! Buy her other books too! If you love mysteries youll love this too!! NO WONDER IT WAS NOMINATED FOR NUMEROUS AWARDS! Holbrook is a genius!! i just wish i could give it more stars!!
Rating:
Summary: Masterful characterization, evocative imagery
Review: Teri Holbrook has debuted with a novel that surpasses 99% of the mysteries on the shelves, and compares very favorably with old masters like P D James. I have seldom read a book which manages to bring such a large cast of complex characters to vivid, breathing life. Ms. Holbrooks' use of evocative language alone would make this worth the read, but she combines this with an involved, well-constructed plot, a palpably real English town (and Ms. Holbrook is an American!), and a canny exploration of the differences and similarities between the Deep (American) South and rural England. It is very hard to believe that this is a first novel.
Rating: 
Summary: A Near and Deadly Formula
Review: This collection of near-random paragraphs, foolish inconsistencies, and perfectly horrible analogies kept me laughing most of the evening. I am glad Holbrook acknowledged her agent and editors by name; none of them is worthy of the title.
Rating: 
Summary: Well crafted and well developed.
Review: This is a lyrical and well-realised story; unlike what one of the other reviewers thought (were we reading the same book?), I found it to be coherent and eminently readable. In fact, I ended up sitting up with a booklight and finishing it in the wee small hours a.m. The plot is believable and has the necessary twists to create that degree of uncertainty which keeps the best mysteries moving along; I was disappointed that I had figured out whodunnit by chapter 3, but then the doubts started to creep in, and I was delighted to find out by the end of the book that I had been wrong. It is not an earth-shaking plot, but it is a life-shaking one, in this small community where the story is set. However, Holbrook's great strength is her ability to create depth in the characters and backgrounds. The setting is rich and believable. There are no "cardboard characters" or two-dimensional bit-part players -- everyone is given enough detail to be a real person to the mind's eye, which is as it should be. One gets the sense of peering in at other people's lives, starting somewhere in the middle of their stories, which began before you were there and which will continue after you are no longer looking. Not everyone is sympathetic, and there are disjunctions between how characters see themselves and how they are seen by other people, and disjunctions between the versions of events as seen by different people. This, too, I found to be true-to-life; from what I've seen, that is the way the real world works. The thread that holds it together is that again, this is done believably rather than randomly, everyone has a real and believable motivation, the characters are internally consistent, and they are all visibly affecting each others' lives. The only reason I give this four stars rather than five is the uncomfortable feeling that there *are* bits of story that we should know, and don't. The author probably left them out deliberately in order that we discover them later (or infer them as we go along), but a couple of times I found myself double-checking just to make sure I hadn't accidentally started with the second book of a series. I will certainly be buying the rest of her books.
Rating:
Summary: Well crafted and well developed.
Review: This is a lyrical and well-realised story; unlike what one of the other reviewers thought (were we reading the same book?), I found it to be coherent and eminently readable. In fact, I ended up sitting up with a booklight and finishing it in the wee small hours a.m. The plot is believable and has the necessary twists to create that degree of uncertainty which keeps the best mysteries moving along; I was disappointed that I had figured out whodunnit by chapter 3, but then the doubts started to creep in, and I was delighted to find out by the end of the book that I had been wrong. It is not an earth-shaking plot, but it is a life-shaking one, in this small community where the story is set. However, Holbrook's great strength is her ability to create depth in the characters and backgrounds. The setting is rich and believable. There are no "cardboard characters" or two-dimensional bit-part players -- everyone is given enough detail to be a real person to the mind's eye, which is as it should be. One gets the sense of peering in at other people's lives, starting somewhere in the middle of their stories, which began before you were there and which will continue after you are no longer looking. Not everyone is sympathetic, and there are disjunctions between how characters see themselves and how they are seen by other people, and disjunctions between the versions of events as seen by different people. This, too, I found to be true-to-life; from what I've seen, that is the way the real world works. The thread that holds it together is that again, this is done believably rather than randomly, everyone has a real and believable motivation, the characters are internally consistent, and they are all visibly affecting each others' lives. The only reason I give this four stars rather than five is the uncomfortable feeling that there *are* bits of story that we should know, and don't. The author probably left them out deliberately in order that we discover them later (or infer them as we go along), but a couple of times I found myself double-checking just to make sure I hadn't accidentally started with the second book of a series. I will certainly be buying the rest of her books.
Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: Three years ago in the remote Hampshire village of Fetherbridge, New Scotland Yard and the local constabulary are involved in a siege at a place of worship. They were trying to arrest Tom Grayson on terrorism charges but things went drastically wrong. Tom and his then-pregnant wife, Gale are holed up inside a church trying to escape the police. When the police decide to storm the building Tom shoots himself and leaves Gale as a grieving widow. Time has passed since the tragic event and Gale is moving up with her life. She is still living in the same village working as a writer and taking care of her daughter, Katie Pru. Her peaceful life will be shattered when Katie Pru's baby sitter is found murdered in a village road. Chief Inspector Daniel Halford and Detective Sergeant Maura Ramsden are sent to Fetherbridge to investigate the murder of Lisa Stillwell. The main reason they were assigned to the case is because they participated in the failed arrest of Tom Grayson. They both have serious misgivings after they are convinced that Gale was innocent of her husband's crimes. They also remember the locals and the locals remember them. Hopefully, they will be able to solve the case quickly but that will not be the case. There is a lot of resentment with New Scotland Yard regarding their attack on the town and some of the townspeople hate Gale Grayson. Ms. Holbrook does an excellent job with this novel by not creating flat characters. All of the major players are well-developed and they evolve as the story goes along. No one had a reason to hate 22-year-old Lisa Stillwell but as the investigation ensues we learn that that is not the case. The story is complex and well-structured with a satisfactory conclusion to the story. The author is clearly influenced by the works of P.D. James and her books do not disappoint. Teri Holbrook's novels have been nominated for several awards, more recently an Edgar-award nomination for THE MOTHER'S TONGUE. The author knows how to structure a good story and hopefully we will see more of her Gale Grayson novels in the future. Her books deserve the highest possible recommendation.
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