Wycliffe and the Guild of Nine

by W.J. Burley

Book Overview

A murder at an artists' colony - but not everyone wants Chief Superintendent Wycliffe to investigate . . .

The artists' colony is at the site of a disused mine working on the moor west of St Ives, and it's run by Archer and his wife Lina, according to astrological principles. The newest member of the colony is Francine, a beautiful if fey young woman with a legacy to invest. Archer isn't keen - not least because she is a Scorpio -...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0752843842
• ISBN13: 9780752843841
• Release Date: August 2001
• Publisher: Orion
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 4.4" x 7.2"

Customer Reviews

Not the best of the series, but still good.

This is the last completed book in the Wycliffe series (Burley had just started a new book when he died in 2002), and revisits the characters from an earlier book. It's set ten years after the events of "The Quiet Virgin", but can be read as a standalone. Detective Chief Inspector Wycliffe is in even more melancholy mood than usual, for he has to face both a new, and _female_, commanding officer, and the murder of a young woman he knows from an old case. For Wycliffe the case brings both guilt at not having kept in touch with Francine, and pleasure at seeing other figures from the past. Some strands of the plot are obvious, but as a second murder and then a third violent death interrupt the police investigation the possiblities multiply. One of the weaker books in the series, in my view, but still no disappointment. As with the series in general, it's an enjoyable read for those times when you'd like something complex enough to be satisfying but short and simple enough to follow when you're tired or distracted. Note that there are major spoilers for earlier book "A Quiet Virgin".