The Fifth Rapunzel

Inspector Maybridge #3

by B.M. Gill

Simon Bradshaw's father, an expert witness at criminal trials, dies in a suspicious car accident after he testifies in a case against the murderer of five long-haired prostitutes, and Simon must find out why his father lied at the trial

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Barbara Margaret Trimble aka Margaret Blake

Reviews

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a flowing viewpoint in this book. A person will be speaking to someone else and the viewpoint shifts from person A to person B, smoothly, no confusion, and very helpfully. The first scene moves to a second with the viewpoint changed. It was interesting to follow. The story itself moves back and forth between the present and a past case which is often referred to but not really addressed. The Rapunzel Murders were named by the journalists and were apparently committed by a man named Hixon, who murdered five prostitutes by strangling them and fastening their long hair around their necks. The book opens with the funeral of the forensic pathologist who testified in the case. He and his wife died in a car crash in Montenegro while on holiday. There is still some paperwork to do but otherwise the case is wrapped up and Hixon is in jail, spouting Bible passages and accusing Prof. Bradshaw of lying in court.
The Bradshaws have a son, Simon, eighteen and in his last term at boarding school. He is extremely naive and doesn't seem to have any sense as to how to handle money or anything else. He is a prime example of something which seems to bother most of the characters, which is a sense of embarrassment about telling anyone what has really happened. Everyone seems to cut short their narration of any event or omit things just because saying it would make them uncomfortable. That is convenient for the author since we don't get inside anyone sufficiently to be sure of their guilt or innocence.
This was a very interesting, if quick, read and I sympathised with the poor detective inspector who had to live in the village and with his wife and with the neighbours and treat them all even-handedly.

[Glenn Armstrong · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Fifth Rapunzel is an English murder mystery. I enjoy the English style with these books which tends to be less dramatic and closer to real life than the American style. That being said we have four girls murdered by a serial killer, two by a local farmer and another one by a well respected cook at the local hospital. All of this occurs in what is portrayed as a tiny English village where everyone knows everyone so immediately it seems a little far fetched. Even the fact that this village police station has its own appointed forensic pathologist seems wrong as I would have thought they would be appointed to major centres and travel to where they are needed. But I am not from England so perhaps I am wrong. I didn't like how Bradshaw who was a highly respected forensic pathologist, and husband and father....would blatantly sleep around, almost flaunting it in front of his wife who was struggling with mental health. Just seemed cruel and wrong. And then the director of the mental hospital decides to sleep with that same woman who has been admitted for mental health reasons. Also wrong on so many levels. The story was told from various first person viewpoints which made it difficult to follow at times. Third person viewpoint would give the reader a lot more information and leave less to interpretation. I am not saying the way it was done was wrong or right, just pointing it out. A classic example of this was when Mrs MacKay took Sally in because she was injured, filthy, cold and upset. A motherly thing to do and her plan was to clean her up, let her get a good nights sleep and then take her in to work the next morning (they worked together at the hospital). But then she doesn't take her in. Even when the entire village is searching for this girl. Eventually the police are digging everywhere looking for a body and questioning suspects, and still she doesn't say or do anything. I was waiting for her to say "it's ok everyone, she's with me as she needed looking after for a few days'. But nope, nothing. Then it appears she was stealing drugs from the hospital and lacing the girls food with these drugs until she basically overdosed and died. Just seemed so weird and out of character for this woman and I couldn't really understand why she was doing it. The reader was never really told. Early in the book it said Mrs MacKay never had children of her own so did she see this distraught and hurt young woman (mid 20's) as the daughter she never had? Did she plan on kidnapping this woman and keeping her captive forever because she never had a daughter of her own? But then she worked with this girl and never appeared to be very "motherly" to her before. I just found this odd and would love to have know what she was trying to do and why. All in all it was an interesting story, a quick read and I think quite well written. I am so glad my book cover is very different to the one shown here as I think it honestly would have put me off reading it!

[Lucy Takeda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did finish this novel. However, I did tend to find excuses to do something besides read it. I didn’t care for the woman that didn’t care at all about her son. I actually didn’t particularly care for any of the characters. Peter and Lisa—-meh. Simon? A lost teen. Rhoda—-a nasty, selfish woman who actually seems to care about her sister.

[Lila · Rating 2 out of 5]

The paperback has really awful, off-putting cover art. What were they thinking? That this would sell? The mystery is decent enough, the pathologist not very believable, even after being dead. I do like the British language and looking up non-American words and phrases and this author has quite a few.

[Moirad · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tedious - I should have given up after one chapter.

[Ben Kindall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, certainly some twists and turns I didn’t see coming. Gill’s ability to switch from one characters perspective to another is fantastic and is the main reason I’ve read some of her novels. I didn’t feel attached to any of the characters however, so yeah. Also felt like the ending was rushed, similar to her issue with Seminar for Murder. She doesn’t reveal anything until the character thinks about it or acts on something, which is cool because we are in their minds and learning along with them. However, it makes the climax very mid because it is abrupt, and that is especially evident in the fifth repunzel.

[Jill Manske · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have really and truly tried to like British mystery writers. And failed most of the time. Not sure what it is about them that puts me off. Sometimes it seems as if they're written in another language that you have to translate as you go along, so full of British idioms and slang that it detracts from the story. But usually it's the stiffness and formality of the writing, like buttoning the top button of a Polo shirt. Gill's style is worst than most. The story meanders around, focusing on different characters from one paragraph to another. It's not that I want to be spoon-fed the storyline. But if you're reading a paragraph about one character and then without even a couple of blank lines, the next paragraph thrusts you into another character, it can be jarring. The Fifth Rapunzel could have been interesting - there was definitely an intriguing storyline buried in there somewhere. But it lacked suspense and suffocated in mediocrity. Even if you really like British mysteries, you probably won't be enthralled by this one.

[Teresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Do not expect a cosy, nor are all the crazy people in the local psychiatric hospital.

[Bionic Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inspector Maybridge #3.