Severn House Publishers
Featuring: Tony Harrison; Alex Duggins
245 pages ISBN: 1780290780 EAN: 9781780290782 Kindle: B016WD3EXI e-Book Add to Wish List
Having read the earlier FOLLY set in the snowy Cotswolds,
I was interested to see what happens next in the Alex
Duggins series. Pamela Gibbon disappears one cold
night.
She'd been going to meet a casual boyfriend at a ruined
building, but in the remote setting nobody hears her cries
for help when she's trapped at the bottom of a well. OUT
COMES THE EVIL gets off to a chilling start as Alex the pub
owner and her friend Tony Harrison the village vet find
Pamela - and evidence that someone trapped her
deliberately.
The village of Folly is populated by characters who know
and gossip about everyone, but I find the talk comes across
as malicious or speculative more often than not. Pamela,
who married in, is still considered a newcomer after ten
years and the death of her husband. Maybe this was why she
chose to meet a younger man in a site better suited to
teenagers, instead of having an open relationship. Alex, a
divorced newcomer, has to face down remarks about her
friendship with Tony. Then a would-be Lothario makes a move
on her, accusing her of branding him a killer when she
declines. Cosy it's not. Nor are the crimes gentle.
Vivian Seabrook kept horses with Pamela and the ladies rode
together, so she's an obvious starting point for Tony to
chat about the death. Alex meanwhile meets other village
ladies at a women's interests meeting. There is speculation
the death could be linked to the earlier death in the
village - nothing much happens here, and it seems too much
of a coincidence.
I'm glad Alex, who rashly tries to investigate the
death, admits she made mistakes and paid for it. Too
many mysteries give the impression that it's okay to
resolve matters by poking around regardless of what the
police say. Violence against women is at the forefront of
the suspenseful OUT COMES THE EVIL. Detectives and
reporters alike crowd the public house, the Black Dog, and
if the notoriety gives Alex trade, it's an event she could
have done without. While Stella Cameron doesn't give us a
comfortable read, she does follow ordinary people rather
than police procedures so if you want a change from British
procedurals, set in the same lovely countryside you may
find OUT COMES THE EVIL a riveting read.
Second in the traditional British mystery series featuring rural inn owner and amateur sleuth Alex Duggins: an intriguing departure for bestselling romantic suspense author Stella Cameron. Once again Alex Duggins and her veterinarian friend Tony Harrison are thrown into a major murder investigation. An almost fresh body is discovered in a disused well among the ruins of a 14th-century manor house … the motive for the killing a baffling mystery. The victim was a widow who had lived quietly in the picturesque Cotswolds village of Folly-on-Weir for the past ten years. Who on earth could want her dead, and by such brutal means? As rumour and speculation engulf the town, another woman is attacked – and Alex discovers that behind a tranquil face lurks a cunning and vengeful mind. Despite warnings from the police to stop interfering, she finds herself in the sights of a ruthless killer who has decided she knows too much …
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