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A Likeness In Stone
In the spellbinding tradition of Minette Walters and Ruth Rendell, author Julia Wallis Martin crafts an intelligent, atmospheric British suspense novel as engrossing as it is original.
An entire house, long submerged in the dark waters of a reservoir, unearths a starting the corpse of Helena Warner, an Oxford college student who disappeared twenty years earlier. For former homicide detective Bill Driver, it means the reopening of a case that, in his mind, was never really closed. And Driver thinks he knows who did it. But three of Helena's friends-- her cold former lover Ian Gilmore, her jealous best friend Joan Poole, and talented but institutionalized artist Richard Wachmann-- conspire to keep a decades-old, deadly secret from seeing the light of day...all the while, a killer continues to strike again and again.
An entire house, long submerged in the dark waters of a reservoir, unearths a starting the corpse of Helena Warner, an Oxford college student who disappeared twenty years earlier. For former homicide detective Bill Driver, it means the reopening of a case that, in his mind, was never really closed. And Driver thinks he knows who did it. But three of Helena's friends-- her cold former lover Ian Gilmore, her jealous best friend Joan Poole, and talented but institutionalized artist Richard Wachmann-- conspire to keep a decades-old, deadly secret from seeing the light of day...all the while, a killer continues to strike again and again.
282 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
February 11, 2019
Waarom heb ik nog niet eerder iemand over dit boek gehoord? Wat ben ik blij dat ik m bij de kringloop tegen kwam! Een mysterieus verhaal waarbij de spanning stukje bij beetje opgebouwd wordt. Het begin was even wat vaagjes door de vele personages waar je achter elkaar kennis mee maakt, maar uiteindelijk vallen alle puzzelstukjes in elkaar en zie je de verbanden.
May 1, 2014
Since moving into double digits many years ago, i've never really missed having pictures in the books I read...until now. While this is a solid, fast paced mystery that isn't quite as 'what you see is what you get' as it might appear for the first four fifths of the book, I can't help but think that to appreciate the full impact of the ending, it really should be on screen (as I know it has been). The ending left me somewhat hollow - so much so that I actually went back and re-read the last 20 or so pages thinking that I'd missed something. Not that I didn't get it - I just felt that the impact should have been more. Which is where the visual would, in this case, have triumphed over the word.
The other issue I have is with the characters. While I appreciate that characters require faults to make them seem more real, I couldn't actually find anything about any of them that I liked. There was no one I was invested in, that I wanted to see things done right by.
That said, it did keep my interest from start to finish and the story moves along at a great pace. I will give another one of the author's books a try and see how it compares.
The other issue I have is with the characters. While I appreciate that characters require faults to make them seem more real, I couldn't actually find anything about any of them that I liked. There was no one I was invested in, that I wanted to see things done right by.
That said, it did keep my interest from start to finish and the story moves along at a great pace. I will give another one of the author's books a try and see how it compares.
August 29, 2009
Riveting, creepy mystery about a cold case.
Want to read
February 12, 2020Synopsis: a house, long submerged in a reservoir, surfaces - in it, the corpse of Helena Warner, a student who disappeared 20 years earlier.
March 11, 2019
Martin starts the novel with an opening scene like none I've ever read. Eerie and captivating.
The book is extraordinarily well written. Creepy, with tenticles of prose wrapping around you and pulling you in like the ivy, or marsh reeds so prevalent in the story.
Any reader versed in mystery fiction will know from the beginning that things aren't as simple as they seem. Yet, even with that knoweldge, even being correct in that knowledge, Julia Wallis Martin manages to pull of a twist ending.
While not quite a "fair play" mystery, there are clues enough, hints, woven among the details.
Multiple perspectives, a staunch part of many mystery novels, is pulled off brilliantly, without giving anything away.
The setting is haunting, creepy (yes, there's that word again, so very apt) dark and as mysterious as the cold case being revealed in the present.
My only criticism is that the police officers were difficult to distinguish one from the other. A minor detail that would have most likely been worked out if there had been subsequent entries into a series. Alas, it's a stand alone..but perhaps that's ok as I need a light, cozy mytery as a palate cleanser after this dark one.
The book is extraordinarily well written. Creepy, with tenticles of prose wrapping around you and pulling you in like the ivy, or marsh reeds so prevalent in the story.
Any reader versed in mystery fiction will know from the beginning that things aren't as simple as they seem. Yet, even with that knoweldge, even being correct in that knowledge, Julia Wallis Martin manages to pull of a twist ending.
While not quite a "fair play" mystery, there are clues enough, hints, woven among the details.
Multiple perspectives, a staunch part of many mystery novels, is pulled off brilliantly, without giving anything away.
The setting is haunting, creepy (yes, there's that word again, so very apt) dark and as mysterious as the cold case being revealed in the present.
My only criticism is that the police officers were difficult to distinguish one from the other. A minor detail that would have most likely been worked out if there had been subsequent entries into a series. Alas, it's a stand alone..but perhaps that's ok as I need a light, cozy mytery as a palate cleanser after this dark one.
August 13, 2025
The cover of my copy would deter anyone from buying it.
A reservoir has produced bodies in other crime stories - in one case, in a car, another, when the water dried up. Here, a diver enters a submerged house and finds a body in a wardrobe. This unlikely scenario rings a bell with someone who investigated a disappearance years ago.
We skip back and forth to twenty years ago when the water was rising. Quite practically we are told that the weather and outdoor work had killed a farmer, the cold, wet, seasons, the need to keep up with the bank.
A maniac kills a woman and refers to having killed an animal as well. Can we please stop the cruelty to animals in fiction. Loses a star.
A reservoir has produced bodies in other crime stories - in one case, in a car, another, when the water dried up. Here, a diver enters a submerged house and finds a body in a wardrobe. This unlikely scenario rings a bell with someone who investigated a disappearance years ago.
We skip back and forth to twenty years ago when the water was rising. Quite practically we are told that the weather and outdoor work had killed a farmer, the cold, wet, seasons, the need to keep up with the bank.
A maniac kills a woman and refers to having killed an animal as well. Can we please stop the cruelty to animals in fiction. Loses a star.
December 21, 2021
Near Oxford, England new reservoir was created over a house. When, 20 years later, two divers on a lark swim through the house, they open a closet door and find a body. The body was the case that had bothered Bill Driver even after he retired from the police force. The discovery of the body brought back 20 years of memories for everyone concerned. This story is not my normal cup of tea but was a well crafted and different plot.
July 29, 2025
An above-average whodunit.
Retired detective Bill Driver is called back to a cold case when divers discover the body of a young woman, Helena Warner, who was reported missing 20 years earlier. Her body was found in a house that had been inundated by a reservoir, and Driver believed she had been murdered, but without a body there was insufficient evidence.
Eventually the mystery is solved, but not in the way Bill Driver expected.
Retired detective Bill Driver is called back to a cold case when divers discover the body of a young woman, Helena Warner, who was reported missing 20 years earlier. Her body was found in a house that had been inundated by a reservoir, and Driver believed she had been murdered, but without a body there was insufficient evidence.
Eventually the mystery is solved, but not in the way Bill Driver expected.
May 5, 2021
It has got a good plot. Only if the start was a little faster, i would have enjoyed the book more.
At one point, I had put the book down getting disappointed that why would the author even bother to write such a thing. However, when you come to this point, keep reading, it gets interesting from here.
At one point, I had put the book down getting disappointed that why would the author even bother to write such a thing. However, when you come to this point, keep reading, it gets interesting from here.
March 3, 2021
This was an ok story. I felt myself rushing through it to get to the end so I could start another book so it is safe to say that this story didn't exactly grab me. I would have given this 2 stars however I did enjoy the descriptions of the settings and the eventual revelations of the murderer.
September 25, 2017
A clever mystery in which two different time frames are integrated perfectly. The main characters are unique and yet it is easy to see similarities to real people in them.
July 14, 2019
Good a little all over the place but I did figure out the murderer before the end
June 23, 2022
Seg bok a la Morden i midsommer. Blev bättre på slutet.
February 21, 2023
Seg bok a la morden I midsommer. Blev bättre på slutet.
February 11, 2024
What a great book - didn't want to put it down and I never did guess the ending!
Maybe I should read more by this author?
Maybe I should read more by this author?
May 3, 2011
This was a fascinating and suble mystery. A cold case was reopened. The retired detective who originally worked on the crime was sure he knew who did it, but could the police get the evidence to prove it this time round? It was a psychological study as much as anything else, partly looking at the effects of living with guilt as well as the cat and mouse games played by the police to try to prove once and for all who was guilty.
December 12, 2013
Very engaging read. Early on the book reveals the alleged killer and then takes the reader through the process of trying to find motivation and evidence to prove it. Well written and fairly smooth transitions between present day and flashbacks of the cold case murder. But, just as you feel the pieces are falling into place Martin throws in a great twist to the ending. It's been awhile since I've found a book I couldn't put down.
May 28, 2012
This was on my to-read list for years and I've finally checked it off. I liked the story, but I had a difficult time connecting with the characters; they felt incomplete to me. I would have liked more depth to them.
That said, the plot was intriguing enough to keep me turning the pages and I am willing to try another book by the author.
That said, the plot was intriguing enough to keep me turning the pages and I am willing to try another book by the author.
March 20, 2013
Dark and compelling. NOT a "cozy" British mystery despite the setting. (Oxford, Thames Valley police) Changes POV often but usually skillfully (some transitions were clunkier than others). Some plot threads left dangling but the ultimate bad guy in the book was one of the most depraved and chilling I've ever read about. Nightmare material!
June 2, 2011
It started out ok... I liked that it was clear from the beginning who the killer was, and rather than being a mystery story, it was a gentle unfolding of motive (I hate not knowing what's going on). Then in the last chapter the killer was someone else. Rubbish.
December 6, 2015
Oh I just landed upon this author - I ADORED her work, atmospheric, and unputdownable - I hoped when I saw this that she'd been writing a whole lot more, but alas it looks like nothing in a long while. I highly recommend if you enjoy the Minette Walters, Nickki French style of mystery/thriller!!
April 14, 2016
Ian Gilmore’s jealous attack on his two-timing girlfriend leaves her dead, he thinks, and his friends collude to hide her remains and cover for him. Twenty years later, her body is found, and the detective who has haunted Gilmore all this time returns to reopen the investigation.
November 17, 2013
first book I have read by this author and it wasn't bad.it's an omnibus book so right into reading second so will have more of a feel for their writing after.
September 1, 2010
Sooooo good- very well written - intrigue to the last word! Thanks to my friend Simon for lending it to me!
September 7, 2012
It was well-written but boy was this depressing. Depressing characters. Depressing story. Not a hint of cheer.
August 27, 2014
A creepy mystery - definitely a good writer with a very conversational yet sophisticated style. Could be macabre for people who like their mysteries bloodless a la Christie..
January 4, 2015
Chilling mystery. Exciting but dark.
March 13, 2016
engrossing
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews