Simpson, Dorothy Books

Once Too Often

Dorothy Simpson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The thinking person's mystery 5 out of 5 stars.
10 of 11 people found this review helpful.

Inspector Luke Thanet's beloved daughter is getting married in a few days. However, instead of a joyous occasion, the police officer worries that his daughter is making a bad choice. Luke is relieved to be handed a perplexing case to investigate so that he can concentrate on something other than the upcoming nuptials. Newspaper columnist Jessica Dander is dead from a broken neck after falling down the stairs in her home. Luke and his partner Detective Sergeant Mike Lineham need to determine whether the cause of death was an accident or a deliberate act of foul play.

An investigation into the deceased's background produces a host of believable suspects, all who disliked the victim. The primary suspect is Jessica's spouse, who has no viable alibi to cover his whereabouts during the time of death. His motive was that of the cuckolded husband, who was also a spousal abuse victim. Besides the spouse, other suspects had solid motives to commit murder. Jessica's lover, who allegedly tried to end their relationship. His wife, who was just outside the murder scene in a car waiting for her spouse to end the relationship. An apprentice hairdresser, who had a deep obsession for the dead person. Luke wants to have this case solved before his daughter's big day so he has one less headache to deal with when his daughter marries.

This fourteenth entry in the Inspector Thanet series is a warm British police procedural wrapped inside a charming cozy. The tale is long on the intellect and short on the gore. The two police officers quietly reason out the sequence of events, discreetly make inquiries, and compare stories without turning into Super-cop. Fans of Jessica Fletcher and Ms. Marple will not only want to read ONCE TOO OFTEN, but all the other entertaining works in this series. Dorothy Simpson gives the audience a tantalizing glimpse into the personal lives of the two officers, thereby humanizing them so that readers will care what happens to them.

Harriet Klausner

Editorial Review:

Talk about a killer deadline! Inspector Luke Thanet, the hero of Dorothy Simpson's series of mysteries set in England, has a murder and a wedding on his hands in Once Too Often. The wedding is his daughter's, and her future life partner has Thanet not a little worried; it comes almost as a relief, then, when the case of a possibly murdered newspaper reporter distracts him from more personal concerns. The victim, Jessica Dander, was found lying at the foot of her stairs with a broken neck. Though it looks like an accident, given the dead woman's unfortunately long list of enemies, murder cannot be counted out. As Thanet and his partner quietly go about the business of solving Dander's death, readers are treated to a well-written, carefully plotted story and characters whose portraits are richly detailed.

Dead and Gone: An Inspector Luke Thanet Novel (Inspector Thanet Mysteries)

Dorothy Simpson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Serious crime isn't supposed to happen in elegant English country homes, especially not in such families as that of Queen's counsel Ralph Mintar, a prominent barrister who's destined to become a high-court judge.

So it's particularly shocking when Mintar's attractive wife, Virginia, goes missing just after a small dinner party. Her disappearance is eerily reminiscent of the day four years before, when the Mintars' adult daughter Caroline left the house, never to return.

Caroline seems to have vanished off the face of the earth, but Virginia's body is soon found at the bottom of a garden well, and Inspector Luke Thanet and his partner, Sergeant Mike Lineham, who are called in to investigate, quickly discard any idea of accidental death. Virginia was the perfect murder victim. Her outrageous flirting made her many enemies, several of whom were there on the night of her death. They had both reason and opportunity to kill her, but which one took the final, fatal step? Who wanted Virginia dead and gone?

Who was Virginia's latest lover? What does her mother-in-law have to hide? What about Caroline's younger sister and her womanizing fiancé? Thanet and Lineham wonder how they can even begin to unravel the morass of family secrets that complicate this case.

Distracted by his own daughter Bridget's dangerous pregnancy and pushed by his boss to find hard evidence in this high-profile homicide, Luke Thanet feels pressured as never before as he probes into the life and death of one of the most poignant and, finally, shocking cases of his career.

Always a skilled mistress of the classic British crime novel, award-winning author Dorothy Simpson is at the top of her form in this powerful novel of family love gone tragically wrong.

No Laughing Matter (Inspector Thanet)

Dorothy Simpson

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Editorial Review:

The 12th crime novel featuring the Kent policemen, Inspector Thanet and Sergeant Lineham. This time they are investigating the murder of a ruthless, promiscuous local vineyard owner. This novel won the Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger Award.

A Day for Dying

Dorothy Simpson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

An excellent whodunit! 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This is the first mystery by Dorothy Simpson where I actually figured out the culprit before Inspector Thanet. What I love about D. Simpson's books are the detail. Her characters are fully realized, you see them with all their faults and foibles. And this book is very timely, but I can't say more than that, because I'd spoil some of the mystery. Another thing I enjoy about D. Simpson's series, is that you really believe there is an Inspector Thanet. We're taken along with him when he goes home (I suggest you find the very first book and read all of them in sequence - because you find out about his wife and two children - their struggles in childrearing AND Thanet's problems in dealing with a wife who wants to work outside the home)as well as out and about interviewing suspects. D. Simpson's books are always very rich - with characters, motives, settings. I've never been to England, but with D. Simpson's talents for description, I'm there in Kent with Thanet. I can't wait to read her latest, which is coming out in February.

Editorial Review:

The thirteenth police novel featuring Inspector Luke Thanet, who has to solve a mysteriously callous murder case--the prospective bridegroom at an upper-class engagement party is thrown into the swimming pool and left there to drown. Simpson lays out plenty of clues, from love letters to blackmail notes, revealing the victim to have been less than a gentleman, and his high class circle a mess of interconnected relationships. Thanet, of course, will discover whodunnit. The thrill comes in following him as he does so.

Wake the Dead

Dorothy Simpson

List Price: $19.00 By: Charles Scribner's Sons Amazon Marketplace: 121 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Excellent and heartbreaking 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Marvelous. The local MP is hosting a sort of fair in the grounds of his house when he finds his elderly mother dead in her bed.

I've always enjoyed Inspector Thanet, and this is an excellent example of the British "cozy" -- except that it does point out that, for all the noise about serial killers, sometimes the worst things happen right in the bosom of the family.

Tribulations of a Member of Parliament 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Inspector Luke Thanet and his wife Joan attend a fete at the estate of a Member of Parliament when the MP's mother turns up murdered. The woman had been in very bad health. The fete was good for Fairleigh's public image. Sergeant Lineham was Thanet's extra ears and eyes and he felt thwarted when Lineham was not present. Eventually, of course, he is brought into the picture. Thanet's wife Joan was a probation officer. She usually did not bring her work home, but at this stage she was concerned about Michele, someone who was a battered girl friend. Through the investigation, contacts made in the course of it, Thanet is able to suggest a job for her.

The victim had a sister who lived with the Fairleighs. The victim's sister had hidden depths. She was a secret gambler. The victim was apt to be manipulative in order to get her way according to some of the persons interviewed by the police. Along the way Sergeant Lineham learns that his son is dyslexic. I do not want to disclose the ending, particularly because I liked some of the characters and did not like seeing them pained. The writing is elegant and good. Undoubtedly the series is well worth following.

Editorial Review:

The shocking murder of the ailing, elderly mother of a British M.P. provokes a number of suppositions about the killer's motives--including the woman's imperious personality, the threat she might change her will, and possibly even revenge.

Elements of Doubt

Dorothy Simpson

List Price: $14.95 By: Charles Scribner's Sons Amazon Marketplace: 60 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A very British murder mystery 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This is the seventh in a series of mysteries set in Kent, England, and featuring the detective work of Inspector Luke Thanet. In this story, when Inspector Thanet is called to the scene of the death of a woman who fell from a balcony, he quickly realizes that this was no accident. Quite a few people connected with the case seem to have something to hide, and it is up to Thanet to get to the bottom of it all.

This is the second Dorothy Simpson book I have read, and I am hooked. In this book, Dorothy Simpson succeeds in weaving a fiendishly complicated plot, leaving you completely baffled as to who could have done it. I really enjoyed this very-British murder mystery, and highly recommend it to you.

SUSPICIOUS DEATH (A Luke Thanet Mystery)

Dorothy Simpson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Another excellent English mystery 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is the eighth in a series of mysteries set in Kent, England, and featuring the detective work of Inspector Luke Thanet. In this book, when a successful business woman is found drowned in the local river, the police are called in. There is no clear evidence that the woman was murdered, but to Inspector Thanet this is definitely a suspicious death. A lot of people had the motive to kill the woman, but who had the opportunity? This is a strange case, one that will tax Inspector Thanet to his limit!

As with the other Dorothy Simpson books I have read, this one has a fiendishly complicated plot. It's quite unclear what happened and why, and it will keep you guessing right up to the finale, as you try to figure out who did it. This is another excellent English mystery, one that I highly enjoyed, and highly recommend to you!

Dead by Morning

Dorothy Simpson

List Price: $16.95 By: Charles Scribner's Sons Amazon Marketplace: 57 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A good old-fashioned English whodunit! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is the ninth in a series of mysteries set in Kent, England, and featuring the detective work of Inspector Luke Thanet. In this story, when Inspector Thanet drives through a snowstorm to investigate an apparent hit-and-run, he quickly finds that the people who knew the victim have a lot to hide. The victim, Leo Martindale, scion of a moderate family holding left the area years ago under strange circumstances, and after leading a dissolute life, returned to a less than enthusiastic welcome. Who killed Leo Martindale, and why? It's up to Inspector Thanet to find out!

My wife is a Dorothy Simpson fan, and having given me this book, she has now turned me into a Dorothy Simpson fan! While not as shocking or suspenseful as some murder book, this book has an absorbing and quite entertaining story. If you are interested in a good old-fashioned English whodunit, then I highly recommend this book to you!

Close Her Eyes

Dorothy Simpson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

An excellent British police procedural 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

A teenage girl from a family that belongs to a strict non-Christian biblical religious sect meets a violent death in an alley not far from her home. Inspector Luke Thanet uncovers the shocking incident in her childhood that ultimately led to her death. Dorothy Simpson not only gives us an excellent British police procedural, but also illustrates how extreme parental repressiveness can push a child toward a life of deceitfulness. One of the best of the series.

Excellent Series 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

British police procedural featuring Inspector Luke Thanet. This is the fourth book in the series, but it's not necessary to read them in order.

15 year old Charity Pritchard is found dead in an alley near her home. When Thanet and his less than confident assistant Sergeant Lineham begin to investigate they find quite an unusual cast of characters. Charity and her family belong to a very strict fundamentalist religious group who deny their members things such as jeans and make-up. Well, Charity being a bit rebellious decides to venture into this teen world. Thant sets out to find out of this form of extreme parental repressiveness is what lead to Charity's death.

This book kept me drawn in until the end. Thanet's character thinks outloud so you are brought along through his thought process and not left with an unlikely surprise. Thought I had it figured out early, and then began to question myself. Good use of characters and quirky personalities. Very much in the Agatha Christie realm.

Doomed to Die

Dorothy Simpson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

D. Simpson is DOOMED to be one of the best mystery writers 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

EVER!

This whodunit examines the death of a young artist, found suffocated in the kitchen of a barrister (the victim had been filling in for the nanny, who'd had an emergency appendectomy). Inspector Thanet has a wealth of suspects to choose from, and it's hard to winnow them down. Was it the extremely jealous soon-to-be ex-husband? Said husband's mother? The deceased's married lover? The married lover's wife? They all had a reason (or two or three)to dispatch her. The fun for the reader is following Thanet on his quest to unmask the guilty party(ies). Dorothy Simpson is simply amazing. She's not an author that you read and put away her latest. You usually reread her books every so often just to delight in her well-sketched characters, extraordinary and yet believable plots, sly wit, terrific dialogue, and her main character, Luke Thanet. She draws him as a fully developed person, with foibles and nobility. It's very hard to believe he's not real. Why they've never made a movie from her series is the real mystery. Are you reading this Spielberg? Get busy!

Editorial Review:

Detective Inspector Luke Thanet investigates the murder of diminuitive artist Perdita Master and discovers that Perdita's secret life could have cost her her life. Reprint. PW.