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Winter 1963: two children have disappeared off the streets of Manchester; the murderous careers of Myra Hindley and Ian Brady have begun. On a freezing day in December, another child goes missing: thirteen-year-old Alison Carter vanishes from her town, an insular community that distrusts the outside world. For the young George Bennett, a newly promoted inspector, it is the beginning of his most difficult and harrowing case: a murder with no body, an investigation with more dead ends and closed faces than he'd have found in the anonymity of the inner city, and an outcome which reverberates through the years. Decades later he finally tells his story to journalist Catherine Heathcote, but just when the book is poised for publication, Bennett unaccountably tries to pull the plug. He has new information which he refuses to divulge, new information that threatens the very foundations of his existence. Catherine is forced to re-investigate the past, with results that turn the world upside down. A Greek tragedy in modern England, A PLACE OF EXECUTION is a taut psychological thriller that explores, exposes and explodes the border between reality and illusion in a multi-layered narrative that turns expectations on their head and reminds us that what we know is what we do not know.… (more)
User reviews
This novel wasn't available at my usual source, The Library, so I found it on-line, used, and immediately bought it, thinking I would read it sometime soon. Little did I know that once I had
It is set in a very small village in Derbyshire. A young girl, aged thirteen, goes missing one day after she had taken her dog out for a walk before evening tea. A recent hire at a nearby police force is assigned to find the missing girl and bring relief to her anxious mother. He is quickly obsessed with the case and with determining what has happened to this young girl. He has a good partner and following procedures, the partners put their very best efforts into the mystery of what has happened. Neither the living child, nor her body are ever found. There is an arrest after quite some time has passed and new evidence comes to the detective that point in the direction of the girl's step-father. The investigation heats up.
Let me pause here to let you decide for yourself if there is an empty nook or cranny anywhere in your home library or in your "reader's brain". If there is, jump on this title. It is a terrific and satisfying read.
I highly recommend this book. It is one that will stay in my memory for many, many years because the author is clever and compelling as a story teller.
Setting: Derbyshire, England in 1963 and 1998
I've read a couple of McDermid's Kate Brannigan mystery series and enjoyed them so much that I thought I would try one of her standalones. I was not disappointed. McDermid
It is a freezing cold December in 1963. 13-year-old Alison Carter lives in a tiny isolated community in Derbyshire called Scardale. She is envied by her friends because her stepfather buys her all the latest records. (And if you're an English teenager in 1963, Beatles records are a *must*.) One evening she steps out with her dog to take a walk and disappears. Newly promoted Detective Inspector George Bennett takes over the investigation. He doesn't have the experience, but everyone else is on leave. He takes Alison's disappearance to heart and in due course finds that the biggest obstacle to finding her is the distrust of the villagers. Thirty-five years later, Catherine Heathcote decides to write a book on the case that made Bennett's career. No one is prepared for what happens next.
Usually when I read a mystery, one thing stands above all the rest, whether it's the characterization or the setting or the plot. In A Place of Execution, all three are brilliantly done and each has an integral part in the book. One scene in particular will always stand out in my mind. In that scene, McDermid's language is simple and direct without being overly graphic--but I was left stunned, sickened, and with tears swimming in my eyes. Very powerful and moving! I wouldn't be at all surprised if this is one of my Top Ten reads of the year.
Murder in a small, traditional English country town set in both the 1960s and modern day. And there's always a cup of tea to be had. I appreciate a writer who understands the importance of tea! ;)
It's also nothing like the Kate Brannigan series, which I started reading after this, my first McDermid book.
The only thing I can say against this novel is that is long and perhaps a bit too wordy. Otherwise, it's a good read.
The setting is the Derbyshire area, known for the Peak District National Park.
A constable gets a call from a woman asking for help. Her fifteen-year-old daughter
Since two other children have been missing recently, police set up an immediate search.
Alison Carter lived with her mother and step-father in a small hamlet of Scardale which is made op of only a few houses and about three families who were closely connected.
The investigation, led by Det. Inspector George Bennett is very thorough but stalls. Then one resident remembers an old mine. At that scene, evidence is found that points to one person. Further investigation makes police certain but there's not a body. Officials must decide if there is sufficient evidence to try this person for murder.
The setting of the small hamlet is well described as is the confidence of the residents that Alison will be found. Then we experience their realization that she won't.
Then the story moves to 1998 when George Bennett is retired. A woman meets George's son and tells him she's writing a book about the events in Scardale. She wants to return there for research. New events come to life that will shock the reader.
A well plotted, well written story which is vastly entertaining.
Back Cover Blurb:
Winter 1963: two children have disappeared in Manchester; the murderous careers of Myra Hindley and Ian Brady have begun. On a freezing day in December, another child goes missing: thirteen year old Alison
Decades later he finally tells his story to Catherine Heathcote, but just when her book is to be published, Bennet unaccountably tries to pull the plug. He has new information which he refuses to divulge, information that threatens the foundations of his existence.
Catherine is forced to reinvestigate the past, with results that turn the world upside down.
© Koplowitz 2011
My first book from Val McDermid and it didn't disappoint me. I had seen the series with Tony Hill, but this isn't one of them.
I liked to see into one village so closed to strangers, I couldn't even believe there are actually places where people still live like that. I liked the plot,
This meta mystery is so clever it cuts itself. Lest you not notice, Book II, Part II is located before Book II Part I and that placement is all that gives Book II Part I its tension. Also a reference is made to The Wicker Man to rub in the rubes using the police to their own ends aspect.
Then, some 24/30 years later, an enterprising journalist, who is friends with George's son and fiancé, works with George to write a book about the crime, the investigation, and the trial. George is entirely cooperative and happy to talk about the great coup of his early career, so it is all the more surprising when he writes to the journalist to say that he has changed his mind and she can under no circumstances publish the book; and in the meantime, he has a stroke which renders him incommunicado. Catherine, the journalist, decides to return to the small village where it all happened, and where George had visited the day before writing to her, to find out what could have spooked George so much; and she does when she meets the grown woman that the "vanished" girl has become. And then comes out an ever stranger story of a village's "justice" exacted on the pervert that they had discovered in their midst.
McDermid writes well. I thought the story plodded a bit from time-to-time, but generally it is well told, with a good cast of characters, and a well developed plot that does leave you guessing till the end.
(Nov/00)