Skeleton at the Feast

Ackroyd and Thackeray #7

by Patricia Hall

With an inquiry into the death of one of his officers hanging over his head back in Yorkshire and his career in limbo, DCI Michael Thackeray sets off for his alma mater, Oxford College, for a summer course, all the while brooding on his newly uncertain future. Before long, a former tutor has persuaded him to investigate the disappearance of a senior don. Why has Dr. Mark Harrison abandoned his wife, his family, and his students so abruptly? And why has no one heard from him or his girlfriend since the day they left St. Frideswide's? The college needs some answers urgently.

Back on their home turf, Thackeray's girlfriend, reporter Laura Ackroyd, watches and waits--and does some of her own investigating--as the ripples caused by the young policewoman's death throw young sergeant Kevin Mower into turmoil and an ambitious officer pursues Thackeray's job.

As Laura Ackroyd battles on the home front, Thackeray is tormented by unhappy memories of his own time at Oxford. Are the missing professor and his girlfriend alive or dead? How many more horrors, so effortlessly covered up over the years, will come back to haunt St. Frideswide's, as well as Thackeray himself? The answers to these questions may be more than he bargained for, and the distance between the privileged world of college cloisters and the violence outside its ivy-covered walls may turn out to be just an illusion.

Genres: Mystery

Audio Cassette

First published May 30, 2000

About the author

Patricia Hall is the pen-name of journalist Maureen O'Connor. She was born and brought up in West Yorkshire, which is where she has chosen to set her acclaimed series of novels featuring reporter Laura Ackroyd and DCI Michael Thackeray. She is married, with two grown-up sons, and now lives in Oxford.

Reviews

[Angela Belich · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too many typos and names that changed

Liked the book and series but please please fix the typos and the names that change during the book
Has anyone but me actually read it?

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

#7 in the Yorshire DCI Michael Thackeray and girl friend Laura Ackroyd mystery sereis. With an inquiry into the death of one of his officers hanging over his head back in Yorkshire and his career in limbo, DCI Michael Thackeray sets off for his alma mater, Oxford College, for a summer course, all the while brooding on his newly uncertain future and as well as his unpleasant memories of his years at Oxford's St. Frideswide College 20 years earlier. This is a strong mystery novel with a dark tone to it.

There are multiple story lines here: At Oxford Thackeray is asked to unofficially look into the disappearance several months ago of one of the college's dons and try to discover where he is which turns out to be more complicated as more than the disappearance is involved , the investigation back in Yorkshire into the death of a police woman under Thackeray's command, and the investigation into a girl's rape and beating back in Yorkshire by detectives under Thackeray's command.

[Gary Van Cott · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars. The author, as she did in the previous book, gets one of her characters out of their familiar location. In this case it is Thackeray who goes to a police course taking place at his old college in Oxford. He has to deal both with his old demons and a new mystery he is asked to investigate by his former tutor. This book has a higher level of tension than most of the earlier books in this series. Not all of the problems are resolved in this book.

[Grey853 · Rating 2 out of 5]

This had an interesting plot, but the chopping execution slowed the pacing too much. It was really two stories in one, showing the impact of the death of a colleague on two very different people.

I really think this could've been an excellent novel with some editing.

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an interesting and unusual look at life at an Oxford College. Not the glowing appreciation of the gleaming spires of the universities but a continuation of the stories of a police detective, Thackery and a journalist, Laura Ackroyd.

[Nina · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was enjoyable. It didn't focus so much on the background of the criminal as it did the background of the investigators. I like my mysteries to have layer upon layer of clues to be revealed but most of the time was developing the characters of the police department.

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice, solid police procedural set in Oxford. I mean to check out some of her subequent books.