What do you think?
Rate this book
Such a Nice Client
The Lawrences were newcomers to the town. Nobody knew much about them. Old Mr Lawrence was seventy and had had a stroke which deprived him of his powers of speech, and he was being looked after by his daughter-in-law. This much Lucy Summers was aware of when she went round to the house for her first appointment as his physiotherapist. What she was not prepared for was the shock of seeing the old man sitting in his wheelchair in the garden desperately trying to steal the crusts off the bird-table with his good hand. Is old Mr Lawrence simply senile? Or is he being systematically starved to death by his neat and civil daughter-in-law?
You don’t get a straight answer to a question like that, so Lucy enlists the aid of Geoff Harris, one of the local GPs. He has a word with the district nurse, and the local Social Services are deployed under the wilfully independent generalship of Mrs Chandler, who finds young Mrs Lawrence such a nice client. And then there’s a regrettable holiday accident and the questions the town finds to ask about the Lawrence family are only just beginning . . .
Josephine Bell is a past-master at the art of conveying something evil nurturing itself behind, and indeed on, the bureaucratic routine of her small town life, as Health Service talks to Social Service and local vicar’s wife speculates to local estate agent’s wife and local newspaper man snuffs the air. The result is a deadly tale in this popular author’s most sharply observant vein.
You don’t get a straight answer to a question like that, so Lucy enlists the aid of Geoff Harris, one of the local GPs. He has a word with the district nurse, and the local Social Services are deployed under the wilfully independent generalship of Mrs Chandler, who finds young Mrs Lawrence such a nice client. And then there’s a regrettable holiday accident and the questions the town finds to ask about the Lawrence family are only just beginning . . .
Josephine Bell is a past-master at the art of conveying something evil nurturing itself behind, and indeed on, the bureaucratic routine of her small town life, as Health Service talks to Social Service and local vicar’s wife speculates to local estate agent’s wife and local newspaper man snuffs the air. The result is a deadly tale in this popular author’s most sharply observant vein.
196 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1977
13 people want to read
About the author
Josephine Bell
86 books17 followersJosephine Bell (the pseudonym of Doris Bell Collier Ball) was born into a medical family, the daughter of a surgeon, in Manchester in 1897.
She attended Godolphin School from 1910 to 1916 and then she trained at Newnham College, Cambridge until 1919. On completing her studies she was assigned to University College Hospital in London where she became M.R.C.S. and L.R.C.P. in 1922 and M.B. B.S. in 1924. She married Dr. Norman Dyer Ball in 1923 and the couple had a son and three daughters.
From 1927 until 1935 the couple practised medicine together in Greenwich and London before her husband retired in 1934 and she carried on the practice on her own until her retirement in 1954.
Her husband died in 1936 and she moved to Guildford, Surrey and she became a member of the management committee of St. Luke's Hospital from 1954 to 1962.
She began writing detective fiction in 1936 using the pen name Josephine Bell and her first published novel in the genre was 'Murder in Hospital' (1937).
Perhaps not surprisingly many of her works had a medical background and the first one introduced one of her enduring characters, Dr David Wintringham who worked at Research Hospital in London as a junior assistant physician. He was to feature in 18 of her novels, ending with 'A Well Known Face' (1960).
Overall she wrote more than 60 books, 45 of them in the detective fiction genre where, as well as medical backgrounds, she used such as archaeology in 'Bones in the Barrow' (1953), music in 'The Summer School Mystery' (1950) and even a wildlife sanctuary as background in 'Death on the Reserve' (1966).
She also wrote on drug addicition and criminology and penned a great number of short stories. In addition she was involved in the foundation of the Crime Writers' Association in 1953, an organisation in which she served as chair person in the 1959–60 season.
She died in 1987.
Gerry Wolstenholme
June 2010
She attended Godolphin School from 1910 to 1916 and then she trained at Newnham College, Cambridge until 1919. On completing her studies she was assigned to University College Hospital in London where she became M.R.C.S. and L.R.C.P. in 1922 and M.B. B.S. in 1924. She married Dr. Norman Dyer Ball in 1923 and the couple had a son and three daughters.
From 1927 until 1935 the couple practised medicine together in Greenwich and London before her husband retired in 1934 and she carried on the practice on her own until her retirement in 1954.
Her husband died in 1936 and she moved to Guildford, Surrey and she became a member of the management committee of St. Luke's Hospital from 1954 to 1962.
She began writing detective fiction in 1936 using the pen name Josephine Bell and her first published novel in the genre was 'Murder in Hospital' (1937).
Perhaps not surprisingly many of her works had a medical background and the first one introduced one of her enduring characters, Dr David Wintringham who worked at Research Hospital in London as a junior assistant physician. He was to feature in 18 of her novels, ending with 'A Well Known Face' (1960).
Overall she wrote more than 60 books, 45 of them in the detective fiction genre where, as well as medical backgrounds, she used such as archaeology in 'Bones in the Barrow' (1953), music in 'The Summer School Mystery' (1950) and even a wildlife sanctuary as background in 'Death on the Reserve' (1966).
She also wrote on drug addicition and criminology and penned a great number of short stories. In addition she was involved in the foundation of the Crime Writers' Association in 1953, an organisation in which she served as chair person in the 1959–60 season.
She died in 1987.
Gerry Wolstenholme
June 2010
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 8, 2013
Lucy goes to visit old Mr Lawrence who has had a stroke which has left him unable to speak and walk. Lucy is a physiotherapist and she is horrified to find that Mr Lawrence appears to be starving hungry.
She raises her concerns with the doctor’s practice with whom she works and the GP agrees to pay an unannounced visit. Both agree there is something going on and Mr Lawrence’s daughter-in-law seems a little uncaring but could she really be trying to starve him to death?
It is only when Mr Lawrence dies in an accident on a sea-side holiday that the whole situation starts to unravel and the truth is gradually revealed. This is an entertaining story and even though the reader can see both the police investigation and the lives of some of the villains the book still maintains the tension very well.
She raises her concerns with the doctor’s practice with whom she works and the GP agrees to pay an unannounced visit. Both agree there is something going on and Mr Lawrence’s daughter-in-law seems a little uncaring but could she really be trying to starve him to death?
It is only when Mr Lawrence dies in an accident on a sea-side holiday that the whole situation starts to unravel and the truth is gradually revealed. This is an entertaining story and even though the reader can see both the police investigation and the lives of some of the villains the book still maintains the tension very well.
Displaying 1 of 1 review