Death in the Family

by Jill McGown and Massimo Pallottino

Book Overview

With a plot that defies the most inspired second-guessing and with menace ticking quietly away on every page, Jill McGown's Death in the Family firmly establishes her as a master of mystery and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345458486
• ISBN13: 9780345458483
• Release Date: February 2003
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

BOOKWORM

THIS IS A MUST READ SERIES, THEY SHOULD BE READ FIRST TO LAST. SHE TAKES THE LOYD, HILL RELATIONSHIP FROM ONE BOOK TO THE NEXT WITHOUT A FLAW. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THEIR RELATIONSHIP IS WORTH THE PRICE OF THE BOOKS. HER WHO DONE IT IS A WELL DEVELOPED PLOT THAT WILL CARRY YOU TO THE LAST CHAPTER BEFORE YOU ARE SURE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT GUILTY PARTY. TRY NOT TO CHEAT AND GO TO THE LAST CHAPTER BEFORE YOU GET THERE!! IT'S A TEMPTATION!!!

Don't buy this book twice!

This book is also published under the title "Death in the Family". It's good but I didn't need two copies of it!

Births, Deaths, and Marriages

In the UK this book was published as Births, Deaths and Marriages, a title I happen to like better than the rather bland "A Death in the Family". The American title seems to place too much emphasis on the murder, whereas the British title suggests that it is the overall situation that should be examined.I have to agree that this is not the book for the rank newcomer to the Hill/Lloyd saga but for those of us who have been following the ups and downs of DCI Hill and Lloyd and Their bedeviled police force, this is a good read.While the mystery is not all that impenetrable, the characters are well drawn-- I always find myself jolted by the realization that the British aren't Americans with funny accents-- and the plot, while ultimately relying on concidence, turns on the issues raised by the above mentioned births, deaths and marriages.Easy to pick up, hard to put down.

Smashing New Entry in a Solid Series

One of the things that always amazes and delights me about Jill McGown's wonderful DCIs Hill and Lloyd British procedurals is their completely baffling, yet utterly flawless structure. Her intricate plots move at a breath-taking pace towards what seems like a wholly logical denouement and then suddenly your jaw drops because her solution to the crime in question...utterly reasonable once you put the right pieces together...is not at all what you (or, quite frequently, her characters) had anticipated. That is certainly the case with appropriately-titled "Death in the Family". Judy and Lloyd's wedding plans have been temporarily shelved due to the early arrival of their daughter, Charlotte Frances. However, while they are happily adjusting to their new status as a family, elsewhere in Stansfield, families are being shattered left and right with deadly consequences. Self-centered, well-to-do Lesley Newton has no particular qualms about breaking up Ian and Theresa Waring's marriage so that she and Ian can marry and emigrate to Australia, taking her adopted daughter from her first marriage...rebellious, troubled, thirteen-year-old Kayleigh Scott...with them. Her blithe disregard for anything but her own desires infuriates her former husband, Kayleigh's devoted stepfather, Phil Rodham, and also impels Kayleigh (since her mother has arbitrarily separated her from her best and only friend) into a sexual entanglement with petty criminal, Dean Fletcher, that leaves her pregnant and him arrested and jailed as a pedophile. All of which and more eventually add up to sufficient grounds for Lloyd to call it murder when Lesley's dead body is discovered at the Waring's country cottage shortly after Fletcher's release. As he pursues his investigation, Judy - still on maternity leave - inadvertently gets unofficially caught up in one of her own: while walking Charlotte in the park, she hears terrified screams. A teenage nanny has made a quick trip back to the car park leaving her charge alone, and the baby has disappeared. Inevitably, Judy's desparate need to find the kidnapper in time to save the baby becomes part and parcel of Lloyd's search for an elusive killer. The pieces start to come together...suspects are jailed...then Judy makes a startling discovery, and all bets are off. The real truth behind Lesley Newton's murder is a shocker.I understand that plotting is paramount in the mystery genre, but I especially love reading novels that not only weave a compelling story, but also allow room for me to get thoroughly involved with the every day lives of their protagonists. Judy Hill and hitherto nameless Lloyd are so lovingly-drawn that it's a rare and genuine pleasure to spend time with them. Jill McGown never disappoints me. I think "Death in the Family" is the strongest entry to date in this rock-solid series, and I found it almost impossible to put down.

superb British police procedural

Detective Chief Inspector Judy Hill and her lover DCI "appalling first name" Lloyd had to cancel their wedding because their baby came four weeks early. Charlotte Frances is an adorable cherub and her father is totally besotted with her while Judy is constantly worrying whether she should go back to work or be a stay at home mom. While pondering her dilemma, an au pair girl cries out that her baby has been stolen. The crime hits Judy hard because the seventeen-year-old watcher was not only negligent but also because she knows the infant and the mother.At almost the same time across town, Lloyd is at the scene of a homicide identified as Leslie Newton and an accident victim. Leslie's lover Ian Waring undergoes surgery after he is stabilized. There are many suspects but Lloyd really does not know who committed the murder. If it were not for startling circumstances involving the kidnapped baby, the case would have been solved much sooner.Jill McGown writes some of the best British police procedurals on the market today and DEATH IN THE FAMILY is one of her better ones. The personal relationship between the two DCIs and their love for their daughter will appeal to fans that gain pleasure from a warm, well-written romantic police procedural. Readers will never guess who the killer is but they will be glad to see that an innocent person obtains the justice he deserves.Harriet Klausner