Villains by Necessity

Antony Maitland #36

by Sara Woods

Sara Woods is one of England's noteworthy mystery writers. This title features her continuing character, Antony Maitland, a counselor/attorney, who finds himself involved in a protection racket.

Genres: Mystery

190 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

(Lana Hutton Bowen-Judd)
UK (1922 - 1986)
aka Anne Burton, Mary Challis, Margaret Leek

Born in England, she was educated at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Filey, Yorkshire.

During the Second World War, she worked in a bank and as a solicitor's clerk in London. Here she gained much of the information later used in her novels. Lana married Anthony George Bowen-Judd on April 25, 1946. They ran a pig breeding farm between 1948 and 1954. In 1957 they moved to Nova Scotia, Canada. She worked as a registrar for St. Mary's University until 1964. In 1961 she wrote her first novel, Bloody Instructions, introducing the hero of forty-nine of her mysteries, Anthony Maitland, an English barrister.

Her last years she lived with her husband at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

Reviews

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite - a little too routine. But this is quite late in the series. I got the feeling that the author was running out of fresh ideas.

[Dracolibris · Rating 4 out of 5]

An assassin, a thief, a Druid, a Black Knight and an evil sorceress. What do they all have in common? Well, yes, yes, they are technicially villians, and some might say they are technically "evil" but they have found themselves on an odd quest for such a motley crew- they are setting out to save the world. You see, in this land the Light is overcoming the Dark ever since the Heroes defeated the Villians in an epic battle some years before. Peace has returned to the land, everyone is happy and gainfully employed, the flowers are blooming, the sun is shining and harmony is restored. Or is it? As the Druid points out to her erstwhile companions, there CAN be too much of a good thing.

This book was a fun old-fashioned fantasy read. I thoroughly enjoyed it. But then again, I have always found myself rooting for the bad guys at the most awkward times. :-)

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just wow, the one thing I kept saying to myself while reading this was "I want to run this as a D&D campaign!" It had some very memorable moments that were so full of moral dilemma I didn't know how I would have proceeded. Combined with a one-two punch at the end of a twist I was expecting, and one I was not, this book has become one of my favorite stand-alone fantasy novels.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I fell victim to title cofusion. This is not the science fiction one, it's the british-legal-procedural-mystery one. Not bad but not a must read even for a genre hound like me.