Hand In Glove

An elderly woman is murdered in what the local police decide was a robbery gone wrong. However, the man they arrest may not be guilty after after all. What follows can be traced back to events during the Spanish Civil War.Though I found Goddard's prose style a bit dated, I was onboard to begin with. However the characters were all rather boring and the rapid changes in POV, together with the inclusion of so many letters and documents, disrupted the narrative flow. By the end there had been so many twists and turns I had lost all belief in the plot and really struggled to make it to the end.

What a treat. How I missed the original release of this book more than a decade ago is beyond me. But it such a delight to find this absolute gem of a hallmark Goddard mystery story, entwined in a historical conundrum with enough twists to send your brain dizzy with analysis of the likely outcomes. Easy to read at a fast pace, with enough depth to engage with the characters and enough meat on the bone to entwine several separate strands of stories into an excellent conclusion. How I yearn for this classic Goddard, rather than his most recent efforts that resulted in a trilogy which was almost pedestrian by these standards. We can only hope that his new release due for next spring heralds a return to his original glorious storytelling.

This is a long and concentrated novel of very high quality. It concerns a family of wealth , one of whose members was a distinguished and much published poet until his death in the Spanish Civil war of the 1930's.Robert Goddard is a highly skilled and experienced writer and starts this fascinating story at a slow burn. Soon it develops and burns brightly as a bonfire with action in England, USA and Spain which keeps the pages turning. The protagonists manifest all the weaknesses and occasional strengths of various sections of the human race and the reader will be kept busy speculating who did what and why. Greed and shallowness are prominently on display. The novel is of such quality that I found myself wishing to retire earlier at night and willing myself to wake early in order to resume this narrative which twists and turns in all directions and even at the end, when all seems resolved, there is a speculative twist which rounds off this wonderful tale. The experience is enhanced by the authors style and beautiful use of the English language, nearly never having to resort to ugly language of the gutter.

Much to enjoy in this 1992 reissue. The skill with which the author weaves 1938 Spain with modern Britain is very good indeed. I did find the character of Charlotte to be a bit of a pain and some of the others were either too good to be trues or far too stereotypical .For crime readers who may want to read more books involving the Spanish Civil War ,I have found the best by far ,to be those by James Garcia Woods ; they are all set just in that time and only use all Spanish characters. Much as I did enjoy this book, and will read others , I would say it is about 100 pages too long . Yes the plot was certainly deeply woven ,but cuts could have been made .

When the book starts with the murder of an elderly lady, who has anticipated the arrival of her assassin – and even gives his name away – you know you’re in for a treat!The murder of Beatrix, a quirky lady of a lost generation of generous stalwart spinsters, sets in motion a whole range of events that turns her niece, Charlie’s life upside down. At first it appears an open and shut case of a bungled burglary and the owner of an antique shop is quickly arrested. But despite being a wrong-un and not being beyond diddling old ladies out of a few bob, he protests his innocence to the only man who can help him, his brother, Derek.And so it begins. Charlie and Derek’s stories weave in and out of each other’s lives, as they both try to learn the truth and try to uncover secrets Beatrix took great pains to bury before she died.With the help of Frank, a curmudgeonly farmer living out his end of days as a shepherd in Wales, Charlie and Derek get to the bottom of it everything and secure the release of Derek's brother.A superbly written story with characters that were literally climbing out of the page. As much as I wanted to know what happened, and see justice prevail, I didn’t want it to end!