Minette Walters, Fox Evil

[ellarien]

Standalone, British-set mystery, not detective-centered. The titular character actually calls himself that, and is a nasty piece of work living with a group of so-called travellers. (Mostly a British phenomenon.) Among other unpleasant activities, Fox is engaged in persecuting a country squire, whose wife recently died in somewhat suspicious circumstances. Does he have a connection to the family? Was the wife's death really an accident, or was it murder? Where do the estranged and worthless adult children fit in? Meanwhile, the squire, whose only friend seems to be his solicitor [lawyer] is tentatively trying to get to know his granddaughter, born to the absent daughter in her teens and adopted out at birth. Fox's secrets eventually turn out to be even nastier than they look at first glance; some of the other characters are deeply unpleasant and some turn out to be very decent people, relieving the general nastiness a bit.


I bought this used, and will probably be returning it whence it came on the next trade-in run, as I usually do with contemporary mysteries.

Back in my Birmingham days, one of our teaching lab technicians was a relative of the author's; she was just starting out at the time.