Bad Chemistry

Gillian Adams #3

by Nora Kelly

Canadian historian Gillian Adams finds herself back in Cambridge. She's set to enjoy that lovely city in high summer--and her romance with Scotland Yard Detective Chief Inspector Edward Gisborne, even though he's tying up a child-killing case in Lambeth. Then the death of a research fellow in the Department of Chemistry shocks both the university and the town.
Gillian is linked to the victim through old friends and to the Cambridge police through Edward. Ideally placed to investigate Wendy Fowler's murder, she turns up evidence of venomous professional rivalries and at least one clandestine liaison. Not to mention that Wendy, a volunteer at the Pregnancy Information Service, is herself pregnant.
Then a second body turns up. There is no compelling evidence to link it to Wendy, nor to the motives ascribed to the suspects in her death. As the police sift the facts, Gillian looks at the crimes from a feminist perspective, seeing that that science, contemporary mores, and more conservative traditions have produced a volatile--indeed, fatal--mixture....
Gillian Adams began her sleuthing career with In the Shadow of King's and My Sister's Keeper. Her fourth case, Old Wounds, won Canada's 1999 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel. Ms. Kelly is at work on a 5th novel.

Genres: Mystery

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Nora Kelly is an American-born Canadian mystery writer best known for her Gillian Adams series. She earned degrees from the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University and studied at Cambridge. Kelly won the Arthur Ellis Award for Old Wounds in 1999. Based in Vancouver's Strathcona neighborhood, she is a founding president of City Opera Vancouver and has contributed as an associate producer and librettist. She also authored a history of nursing in Vancouver.

Reviews

[Frank Baugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in a misogynistic chemistry department on Lensfield Road, any similarity is purely coincidental

[Elby · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. More enjoyable than I expected! The story was very layered and even convoluted but not in a contrived or unbelievable way. It made sense by the end and maintained a sense of credibility throughout.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kelly seems to need a bit more chemistry in the book, but I still will read the nest in the series.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: Canadian historian Gillian Adams is back in Cambridge. The death of a research fellow shocks both the university and the town.