What do you think?
Rate this book
David Webb #6
Six Proud Walkers
The Walkers seem like the perfect family.
Renowned for crafting the famous Broadshire Porcelain, they are well liked and well respected.
But everything changes when DCI Webb spots a chilling message among their garden's flower beds. Soon after, the family's matriarch is bludgeoned to death.
The whole family make DCI Webb’s long list of suspects. And as he tries to unravel the case, he finds himself embroiled in a deadly web of secrets, envy, and blackmail.
Renowned for crafting the famous Broadshire Porcelain, they are well liked and well respected.
But everything changes when DCI Webb spots a chilling message among their garden's flower beds. Soon after, the family's matriarch is bludgeoned to death.
The whole family make DCI Webb’s long list of suspects. And as he tries to unravel the case, he finds himself embroiled in a deadly web of secrets, envy, and blackmail.
198 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 6, 1988
165 people are currently reading
78 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
September 16, 2015
DCI Webb's friend, Hannah James, is house and cat sitting for a friend who is on an extended holiday. Webb visits the local church and as he and Hannah look down on a beautifully planted flower bed he sees the word 'murder' spelled out in read flowers.
Is it a sick joke or is someone trying to tell the world about a crime? The Walker family are very conscious of their lineage and concerned to make sure the family firm continues in the family. When matriarch Dorothy is bludgeoned to death on a hot Summer afternoon the whole family immediately become suspects and Webb and his colleague must try and unravel family secrets to solve the case.
I found this a disturbing and well written crime story in which the things a family wants to keep hidden are dragged into the cold light of day. It demonstrates clearly how secrets can corrode underneath the successful façade of an apparently close knit family. One of the best in this excellent series so far in my opinion.
Is it a sick joke or is someone trying to tell the world about a crime? The Walker family are very conscious of their lineage and concerned to make sure the family firm continues in the family. When matriarch Dorothy is bludgeoned to death on a hot Summer afternoon the whole family immediately become suspects and Webb and his colleague must try and unravel family secrets to solve the case.
I found this a disturbing and well written crime story in which the things a family wants to keep hidden are dragged into the cold light of day. It demonstrates clearly how secrets can corrode underneath the successful façade of an apparently close knit family. One of the best in this excellent series so far in my opinion.
October 3, 2015
When DCI Webb sees murder spelled out in flowers in the well to do Walker's flower bed he is not sure if he is seeing things but plans to investigate this further. The Walker’s are from a prominent family who have made their wealth in porcelain but when the matriarch of the family is murdered DCI Webb begins to suspect the whole family is hiding secrets and it could be any one of them. Great read. I would like to thank the publisher and Net Galley for the chance to read this ARC.
January 27, 2021
" Six Proud Walkers" Book 6 in the DCI David Webb mystery series by Anthea Fraser is an excellent and exciting book full of completely unexpected twists and turns of plot. The six proud walkers are a family of six adult Walkers, extremely proud of their family lineage, wealth and social position. The Walker matriarch has a incurable hereditary terminable disease and leaves letters with her will to be given to her three sons and two wives upon her death. However, she is brutally murdered, as is her youngest son. Her letter informs her sons that they need not fear her hereditary disease because she was barren and the three "brothers" were adopted as infants, while she pretended to be pregnant, along with the actual mother. The family falls apart and is no longer proud of their heritage. It turns out that the minor daughter of one "brother" was molested and impregnated by another "brother" and the matriarch forced the pregnant minor to have an abortion to protect the family reputation, without the minor's father knowing what was going on.
January 18, 2021
Should have been proofread
This is a brilliant detective story, as are all Anthea Fraser’s DCI Webb books, but I nearly gave up reading it. There are too many OCR errors, especially Guy for Guv, which suggests it was not looked at by a human. Also, there are a lot of scene changes which were not marked at all, making it harder to read. So a bad edition letting down an excellent book.
This is a brilliant detective story, as are all Anthea Fraser’s DCI Webb books, but I nearly gave up reading it. There are too many OCR errors, especially Guy for Guv, which suggests it was not looked at by a human. Also, there are a lot of scene changes which were not marked at all, making it harder to read. So a bad edition letting down an excellent book.
November 18, 2024
Enjoyable book that is very short, so it is quick and easy read. Maybe a little too quick. It is a mystery involving a prominent but very dysfunctional family. Aren't they all in these books? It took me a while to get all the members of the Walker household straight (the family tree at the beginning is very useful). I would have liked to have had more detail concerning the ornamental porcelain business, but as it was a short book, there wouldn't have been enough pages.
April 4, 2019
Another winner!
DC I David Webb and his police team are involved in solving a murder in a family, generations of proud people. The investigation becomes more and more involved, strange, and twisted. It is very tense as pressure mounts to find a solution. Good police procedures prevail, climaxing in a surprise, emotional ending! Superb author!
DC I David Webb and his police team are involved in solving a murder in a family, generations of proud people. The investigation becomes more and more involved, strange, and twisted. It is very tense as pressure mounts to find a solution. Good police procedures prevail, climaxing in a surprise, emotional ending! Superb author!
March 6, 2021
It took me a very long time to get to a point in this book where I could read it without falling asleep. I don’t know if it was the writing or the story or what, but I was bored to tears for about the first half. The last half only took me a couple of days to read because it sped up a lot. I will keep reading the series.
April 22, 2023
When Hannah James went to the village of Honeyford to housesit for a month, DCI David Webb made plans to go visit her there on weekends. But when the matriarch of the village's leading family was murdered, he ended up getting to know the place much better than he had expected to do. That leading family, the "proud Walkers" of the title, turned out to be hiding some serious problems.
November 6, 2021
A re-read but still a gripping mystery.
September 6, 2024
Who could have done it?
Excellent story with many characters to imagine as the culprit. The series gets better as the stories change and evolve.
Excellent story with many characters to imagine as the culprit. The series gets better as the stories change and evolve.
September 22, 2024
Honeyford, home of the proud porcelain makers the Walker family and its matriarch Dorothy and her three sons. A family with secrets, some of which will be revealed when Mrs Dorothy Walker is found dead. DCI David Webb and his team investigate.
An entertaining modern mystery
An entertaining modern mystery
Read
October 8, 2024DCI Webb book 6
November 19, 2015
I liked the premise of this book, the subject matter was one that attracted me to the book but sadly I really struggled to get in to it. It did pick up about half way through and then the pace to the end was much better but I was touch and go as to whether I would continue with the book or put it to one side. I am glad I carried on but feel that this could have been so much better, I have read a lot of crime/mystery books so have a lot to compare it against. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
December 27, 2018
DCI Webb gets called in on a case in a nearby town where his girlfriend is house-sitting. There is a local family, the Walkers, who are rich and well-known. First, the grandmother is brutally murdered. This starts the unraveling of the mystery of the family as well as who the murderer is.
Well-written and good police procedural.
Well-written and good police procedural.
June 12, 2010
What can I say? I just find this author to be so relaxing a read, a real British cozy with such great portrayals of British village life. This story involves the Walker family, who we soon discover are not what they seem.
July 25, 2014
OK but cosy crime novel.
January 29, 2015
I would certainly not call this a cozy since lies and gruesome murders abound. It is a fairly entertaining read, but do not expect "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm".
April 20, 2017
Six Proud Walkers is a classic English detective mystery drama, and is one of sixteen novels featuring, Detective Chief Inspector David Webb, written by Anthea Fraser in 1988.
I read this on Kindle and unfortunately the story is formatted poorly for its conversion to Kindle. It is rife with spelling and grammar errors, with regular occurrences where there is no separation between scenes, with many different scenes rolling into one another. I was about to leave the story following the first four chapters as the pace was extremely slow until the book found its life and took off from chapter five, hooking me to see how the story would unfold. I understand that the beginning was to introduce the characters, but it moves at a slow pace, making it difficult to read, in addition to the poor formatting.
The story begins when DCI Webb visits his friend Hannah James, who is looking after a house and cat for the local school headmistress. Shortly after, Dorothy Walker, the matriarch of the Walker family, is horrifically murdered. Webb begins investigating the prominent, well to do family, who are very proud of their lineage and history only to discover shocking secrets buried deep within the family. When a second murder occurs within the family, it looks like the Walkers are being targeted and the case intensifies for DCI Webb who tries to establish if the murders are linked or are separate cases. Time is against him as the family fear another murder could be committed against the family.
It is set in the period it is written in, adding an air of quaintness to the story - so do not expect modern CSI or investigation techniques. I was a little disappointed at the ending, however I do not wish to give too much of the story away. If you like a good detective mystery adventure set in a rural English village, then this should be an interest for you. Once the story gets going, it really stems a life of its own, and Fraser has excellently portrayed and created complex characters of the Walker family.
I read this on Kindle and unfortunately the story is formatted poorly for its conversion to Kindle. It is rife with spelling and grammar errors, with regular occurrences where there is no separation between scenes, with many different scenes rolling into one another. I was about to leave the story following the first four chapters as the pace was extremely slow until the book found its life and took off from chapter five, hooking me to see how the story would unfold. I understand that the beginning was to introduce the characters, but it moves at a slow pace, making it difficult to read, in addition to the poor formatting.
The story begins when DCI Webb visits his friend Hannah James, who is looking after a house and cat for the local school headmistress. Shortly after, Dorothy Walker, the matriarch of the Walker family, is horrifically murdered. Webb begins investigating the prominent, well to do family, who are very proud of their lineage and history only to discover shocking secrets buried deep within the family. When a second murder occurs within the family, it looks like the Walkers are being targeted and the case intensifies for DCI Webb who tries to establish if the murders are linked or are separate cases. Time is against him as the family fear another murder could be committed against the family.
It is set in the period it is written in, adding an air of quaintness to the story - so do not expect modern CSI or investigation techniques. I was a little disappointed at the ending, however I do not wish to give too much of the story away. If you like a good detective mystery adventure set in a rural English village, then this should be an interest for you. Once the story gets going, it really stems a life of its own, and Fraser has excellently portrayed and created complex characters of the Walker family.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews