A Prey To Murder

George & Molly Palmer-Jones #4

by Ann Cleeves

From the author of Shetland and Vera

‘The huge and powerful hawk dominated the scene. Its talons pierced the woman’s flesh and the beak pointed towards her eyes . . .’

The sight is a particularly horrible shock for George Palmer-Jones, ornithologist and amateur detective. An old friend of Eleanor Masefield, a beautiful and charming widow, he is staying with his wife, Molly, at Eleanor’s family run hotel . . .

On the other hand, Molly Palmer-Jones feels that Eleanor was more of a black than a merry widow – a ruthless manipulator of all those caught in her far-reaching web. Is Molly a little jealous, or is she right? And will she be in time to prevent another death?

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller, Thriller, British Literature

186 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Ann is the author of the books behind ITV's VERA, now in it's third series, and the BBC's SHETLAND, which will be aired in December 2012. Ann's DI Vera Stanhope series of books is set in Northumberland and features the well loved detective along with her partner Joe Ashworth. Ann's Shetland series bring us DI Jimmy Perez, investigating in the mysterious, dark, and beautiful Shetland Islands...


Ann grew up in the country, first in Herefordshire, then in North Devon. Her father was a village school teacher. After dropping out of university she took a number of temporary jobs - child care officer, women's refuge leader, bird observatory cook, auxiliary coastguard - before going back to college and training to be a probation officer.

While she was cooking in the Bird Observatory on Fair Isle, she met her husband Tim, a visiting ornithologist. She was attracted less by the ornithology than the bottle of malt whisky she saw in his rucksack when she showed him his room. Soon after they married, Tim was appointed as warden of Hilbre, a tiny tidal island nature reserve in the Dee Estuary. They were the only residents, there was no mains electricity or water and access to the mainland was at low tide across the shore. If a person's not heavily into birds - and Ann isn't - there's not much to do on Hilbre and that was when she started writing. Her first series of crime novels features the elderly naturalist, George Palmer-Jones. A couple of these books are seriously dreadful.

In 1987 Tim, Ann and their two daughters moved to Northumberland and the north east provides the inspiration for many of her subsequent titles. The girls have both taken up with Geordie lads. In the autumn of 2006, Ann and Tim finally achieved their ambition of moving back to the North East.

For the National Year of Reading, Ann was made reader-in-residence for three library authorities. It came as a revelation that it was possible to get paid for talking to readers about books! She went on to set up reading groups in prisons as part of the Inside Books project, became Cheltenham Literature Festival's first reader-in-residence and still enjoys working with libraries.
Ann Cleeves on stage at the Duncan Lawrie Dagger awards ceremony

Ann's short film for Border TV, Catching Birds, won a Royal Television Society Award. She has twice been short listed for a CWA Dagger Award - once for her short story The Plater, and the following year for the Dagger in the Library award.

In 2006 Ann Cleeves was the first winner of the prestigious Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award of the Crime Writers' Association for Raven Black, the first volume of her Shetland Quartet. The Duncan Lawrie Dagger replaces the CWA's Gold Dagger award, and the winner receives £20,000, making it the world's largest award for crime fiction.

Ann's success was announced at the 2006 Dagger Awards ceremony at the Waldorf Hilton, in London's Aldwych, on Thursday 29 June 2006. She said: "I have never won anything before in my life, so it was a complete shock - but lovely of course.. The evening was relatively relaxing because I'd lost my voice and knew that even if the unexpected happened there was physically no way I could utter a word. So I wouldn't have to give a speech. My editor was deputed to do it!"

The judging panel consisted of Geoff Bradley (non-voting Chair), Lyn Brown MP (a committee member on the London Libraries service), Frances Gray (an academic who writes about and teaches courses on modern crime fiction), Heather O'Donoghue (academic, linguist, crime fiction reviewer for The Times Literary Supplement, and keen reader of all crime fiction) and Barry Forshaw (reviewer and editor of Crime Time magazine).

Ann's books have been translated into sixteen languages. She's a bestseller in Scandinavia and Germany. Her novels sell widely and to critical acclaim in the United States. Raven Black was shortlisted for the Martin Beck award for best translated crime novel in Sweden in 200

Reviews

[Susan Swansburg · Rating 3 out of 5]

solid, traditional British mystery. I much prefer her recent work

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another random choice. I wanted a book by the author that wasn't part of the Vera, Shetland or Two Rivers series. I am glad that I have found the George and Molly series. I am now looking forward to reading the rest of the series and getting to know the "team" as that to me is as interesting as solving the crime. In this book the solution seemed obvious but as usual there is a twist at the end. An interesting setting and plot and although some of the details now seem dated the story kept me engaged.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty meh. Heaps of telling here, not much showing. Very matter of fact writing that, at first reminded me of Dame Christie. Unfortunately, it became obvious that there was nothing to read between the lines. Utterly everything was told to us in a very impersonal and stilted manner. I’ll skip the rest of Cleeves’s earlier work and focus on Shetland, Vera, etc.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

*read at work*

A quick novel and it was pretty interesting. It didn't keep me wildly entertained, but this is why I read it, in quiet moments, at work.

Ann Cleeves is the author of the now tv series "Vera". I have not read any of Ann Cleeves books revolving around Vera. If you enjoy Vera, you would enjoy this.

Its a short quick read.

[Hazel Edwards · Rating 2 out of 5]

Intriguing background on birds of prey which fits well with title.I started with the more recent books by Ann Cleeves and was impressed with the depth of characterisation but this earlier title (1989) only shows hints of the later skills. I've now read three of her earlier titles and several of the later Vera and Shetland ones and am inspired by what a fabulous writer she is now and that she has honed her craft. But I'll give the other earlier titles a miss.

[Tony Sannicandro · Rating 2 out of 5]

More like 1 1/2 stars. This was a tough book to read. I love the other books by the author and this was one of her first. But then not all the Lennon and McCartney songs were great either.

[Jo Donnelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have read other Ann Cleves and loved them but I found this slow and I didn't really identify with any of the characters. Saw it to the bitter end but didn't enjoy it.

[Sammy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm afraid this was more than a little dull...

[Martha Fiorentini · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited to read this novel because I love Shetland and Vera.
It was okay but nothing special, in my opinion.

[Suzy Dominey · Rating 4 out of 5]

More like a short story but still entertaining

[Jeffrey Gough · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The remembered dream of taking a young Eleanor into his arms and dancing with her over the frosty grass had lost all its significance. The magic had gone, and with it the attraction of coming home."

Love plays an enormous and unavoidable role in our uncountable cultures; and it is a constant theme of maturing life. The theme of unrequited love is masterfully interwoven throughout the novel, and realised with clarity at the close by a weary and saddened George Palmer-Jones.

A very enjoyable read!

[T-Jhitts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best , a bit twee and simplistic. I’ll avoid George and Molly in future

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another George and Molly Palmer Jones mystery. This one is about a "friend" of George, from his hometown in Herefordshire. Eleanor is an elegant lady who runs an hotel out of the old manor house. She calls upon George's services because she is worried that the local peregrine's chicks would be taken. During an open day at the hotel, a tragedy occurs. This leaves George chasing bird thieves and Molly wondering if there is more going on at the hotel than meets the eye.

It was ok, not her best. The ending felt rushed. I do enjoy learning more about the birds though.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the raptor theme but overall it was rather pedestrian.

[Mcbemused · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit stilted in the writing and I never can get into the George and Molly characters; not as well written as the Shetland and Vera books but still entertaining.

[Carmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit predictable. The person whom you think didn't do it, did it! Peregrine eggs are being stolen. Who is responsible? Storey needed a bit more depth.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a patch on her more recent works

[Andrew Rock · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit dated. Not as good as previous book in the series

[Pogo Dragon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I started reading these books because I love the Shetland TV show, I think, on balance, I should have started somewhere other than this set of books.

In the first two books in this series George and Molly were a partnership, the third book didn't have Molly at all. In this one it seems that George now loathes Molly and wants to have an affair with someone from his distant youth. There are no sympathetic characters in this one at all except perhaps the 11 or 12 year old girl. Her name is Frances, her family call her 'Fanny' which she hates, so all through the book she is referred to as 'Fanny'. Any character that the author deems to be bad in some way is described as 'fat'. Even a random woman watching events through a window is described only as 'fat'. I think perhaps Ms Cleeves had some body image issues at the time. It was quite striking, very unpleasant and very grating.

Ms Cleeves also really doesn't much like Molly in particular and women in general while she's writing this book. It is a run of nasty people doing nasty things. Not in big, dramatic ways but in the petty and mean spirited way you sometimes find when people are stuck together for a bit too long with not enough to do.

I am generally appalling at working out whodunnit in books. In this one it was so blindingly obvious that I'm quite sorry I got through the whole thing.

I didn't much like this one.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

In speranzosa attesa che qualche editore italiano sia folgorato sulla via di Damasco dagli episodi di Vera e si decida a tradurre i romanzi della Cleeves, tutti i romanzi, anche quelli con l’ispettore Ramsay , compro qualsiasi cosa trovi di questa autrice.
Il libro appartiene alla serie della coppia Palmer-Jones, scritta tra il 1986 e il 1996, e mi ha colpito subito lo stile, diverso da quello a cui ero abituata nei libri della serie delle Shetland: frasi molto brevi, asciutte, intervallate da descrizioni di luoghi , dialoghi e pensieri dei protagonisti. Protagonisti che hanno un carattere ma quasi nessun volto: le descrizioni fisiche sono pressoché assenti e della coppia Molly-George si sa solo che sono anziani!
La Cleeves scrive di quello che conosce e si sente, si sente la passione per l’ornitologia e la tassidermia, la conoscenza dell’Inghilterra rurale (qui l’Herefordshire dove ha vissuto da bambina).
L’intreccio è buono e il finale non è affatto scontato, quindi nel complesso un godibile libro che si inserisce perfettamente nella tradizione del romanzo poliziesco inglese.
Unica pecca la solita traduzione raffazzonata tipica del Giallo Mondadori degli anni 80-90, con errori vistosi pure ad una profana della lingua: una persona non è “ben costruita” ma robusta!! Ma rimane il fatto che se non fosse per la Mondadori neanche lo avrei letto e quindi soprassiedo.

[Obsidian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was great. The first book that shows that George and Molly Palmer-Jones have made a go at having their own detective agency. The main reason why I gave it four stars though was that there were parts of it that once again dragged badly. I think when we have George running all over the countryside I lost interest. I was more interested in Molly being left behind at the hotel and her dealing with the mess of the Masefield family and some of the servants.

In "A Prey to Murder" we have George and Molly running their own agency. They are mostly doing missing children cases though. George is suddenly called up by an old friend, Eleanor Masefield, for him to please come to her hotel and help her with a case of what she thinks is someone trying to steal some of the eggs from her nesting falcons. George is eager to return since he has somewhat of a crush on the beautiful and slightly regal Eleanor. Molly though has never liked her, but agrees to go too. When Eleanor is found murdered though, George finds himself thrust into a case he really doesn't want to be involved in. And Molly finds herself realizing that her dislike of Eleanor had more to do with just her husband than she realized.

There is definitely a bittersweet ending to this one. A lot of things are revealed and George's eyes as they say are left opened to what he never allowed himself to see.

[Deirdre Clancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fourth in this early series of books by Ann Cleeves about a couple who spend their retirement solving murders. As with many series in this genre featuring amateur detectives, a certain suspension of disbelief is required, as you're supposed to believe that whenever these individuals are on a trip, murder conveniently ensues. The rest of us mostly go through a lifetime without having a murder occur within our immediate vicinity, let alone in a scenario where we are acquianted with all the characters involved. In the case of the George and Molly series, you'll have accept that the bird-watching community is fairly degenerate too, rather than the bespectacled, earnest nature lovers we might imagine.

In this installment, George becomes a bit humanized, when his infatuation with the murder victim clouds his judgement of the case. Now Molly's gut instinct proves invaluable, and she is remarkably patient with George's foolish fantasy life.

This is a decent read, with characters well drawn. This book is the halfway mark of the series, and while it's proving difficult to obtain copies of the last four, it'll certainly be worth the effort to try to root them out. While the first two books are perhaps a bit wobbly, Cleeves is clearly getting into her stride as a crime fiction writer in the second two books.

[Bodil · Rating 2 out of 5]

On page 64 George Palmer-Jones, the ”hero” thinks that without his wife (Molly) he would have been “pompous and dull”. Despite her, this is exactly what he is, in his infatuation in the really not very charming Eleanor Masefield (unfortunately not uncommon in men of his age). Luckily, Molly P-J is more clear-sighted and solves the mystery, although I am not quite clear on what grounds. However, by that time I did not care what happened to any of these personality-lacking persons and who had murdered the old lady. The story in itself isn’t but, despite all reference to all blue vans, I found it quite boring. And then I do dislike when the detective (in wide sense) in a book realizes who the murderer is AND the reader doesn’t get to know!!!
I really like the first of the Palmer-Jones stories, with it’s insight into birdwatching and the life of bird watchers, and as far as I remember, the second was OK. I have read several later books by Ann Cleeves, and they are definitely in another league.

[Philippa · Rating 4 out of 5]

George Palmer-Jones is called up by an old friend, Eleanore Masefield, to assist in checking out whether eggs are being stolen from an endangered raptors nest. George had always thought Eleanore beautiful. Molly comes along because George is keen to visit although she is somewhat reluctant. Then a body is found and George is reluctantly called in to investigate. There is the extended family living in this big mansion plus various locals all connected with the mansion and so a good set of characters all involved who all could be the murderer. Enough clues are laid and yet it still surprises and, in Cleeves thoughtful style, love and poor relationships lie at the core of the motive.

I enjoyed this book as the story flowed easily. I have not really enjoyed George and Molly’s relationship throughout this series. He goes off without her and she is left to sort of cope. Molly does OK but it seems to me that there is nothing to learn from Georges’s self-scented thinking. The way love is developed in their relationship is OK at best, rather ordinary, and so why read more.
3.5 stars.

[Dianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I like the books of Ann Cleeves, this one didn't engage me as much as others I've read. George and Molly Palmer-Jones are called to the hotel of Eleanor Masefield, a woman to whom George has felt drawn for years. Eleanor fears that young peregrines nesting in the cliffs near her hotel are about to be stolen by a mysterious person driving a blue van.

Eleanor's family feels she is losing touch and her fears are a fantasy. But then a murder takes place, and indeed, the peregrine chicks are stolen.

As George works with the local police to try to solve the case, he leaves Molly at the hotel on her own. Feeling a bit abandoned by George, Molly begins her own sleuthing to see what she can discover.

An interesting premise, but somehow I didn't warm up to this one as much as I expected.

[Kirsty (BookBlogger) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Prey to Murder by Ann Cleeves

Blurb

The sight is a particularly horrible shock for George Palmer-Jones, ornithologist and amateur detective. An old friend of Eleanor Masefield, a beautiful and charming widow, he is staying with his wife, Molly, at Eleanor’s family run hotel . . .

On the other hand, Molly Palmer-Jones feels that Eleanor was more of a black than a merry widow – a ruthless manipulator of all those caught in her far-reaching web. Is Molly a little jealous, or is she right? And will she be in time to prevent another death?

My Opinion

This is another series of short mysteries that I am trying to work my way through. This series focuses on birds of prey and George Palmer-Jones an ornithologist and detective. These are pleasant books to read although not up to the same standard as her later books. A great, quick read.

Rating 4/5

[John Hardy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Palmer-Jones #4. Good points - it's quite short at 175 paperback pages, so a quick read. There are some interesting titbits about birds and the people who love them - or maybe just want to make money from them. Apparently there is a thriving black market for certain birds and their eggs.
As is so often the case in mysteries, a character is quite different from their surface appearance. That's the case here, and is an interesting part of the story.
Bad points - George and Molly aren't very likeable or believable. I've read a few from this series, I think before I joined GR. Supt. Pritchard seems a bit of a dummy, rather cliched in books about amateur sleuths.
I don't want to deter anyone from giving this one a go, but for me they are very average mysteries.
Rating 3.0.

[Hilary Tesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fourth George and Molly Palmer-Jones book takes the couple to a hotel where the elegant owner is soon murdered and left in the weathering ground where a falconer had been showing his birds of prey. As some peregrine chicks were stolen about the same time, it’s assumed the two things are linked and George as an ornithologist is drawn into the investigation by the police, whilst Molly is left at the hotel to do some investigation of her own. As always, with these earlier books, the reader can see the author’s later style developing, as she describes the situation from the viewpoint of different characters.

(The author later draws the world of stealing rare eggs, taxidermy etc in her Vera books, where Vera’s father in the disreputable practice)

[Becki D · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not as good as Cleeves later work with Vera, Shetland & Two Rivers, but a solid work non the less. If you don't compare this with her later work, I think you will enjoy it

Cleeves has talked about how Two Rivers is her first series with a happily married couple, and I was confused as this series features a married couple. The key word is "Happily" married. George is a bit of cad with his silly crush and how Molly got the short end of the stick from him. Molly frankly deserves better than George. I feel like it was more her story than his. Maybe it was because I had more interest in her part than his.

[Andrea Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read from local charity shop. This book feels like it was written in the golden era in style and content. The death of a hotel owner, Eleanor Mansfield, occurs after she invites old friends George and Molly to stay as she wants him to help with saving the young peregrines that she feels are at risk of abduction. His role as an ornithological buff and amateur detective are soon put to use in tracking down the perpetrator whilst his wife feels left out and also investigates. There are plenty of suspects for them to divide and conquer.