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Crime in Question
A tense psychological thriller focuses on a troubled and luckless teenager who finds himself on the run after he bungles a simple burglary at the house where he works as a gardener
- GenresMystery
240 pages, Hardcover
First published September 22, 1989
15 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Yorke
94 books49 followersMargaret Yorke was an English crime fiction writer, real name Margaret Beda Nicholson (née Larminie).
Margaret Yorke was awarded the 1999 CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger.
Born in Surrey, England, to John and Alison Larminie in 1924, Margaret Yorke (Margaret Beda Nicholson) grew up in Dublin before moving back to England in 1937, where the family settled in Hampshire, although she later lived in a small village in Buckinghamshire.
During World War II she saw service in the Women’s Royal Naval Service as a driver. In 1945, she married, but it was only to last some ten years, although there were two children; a son and daughter. Her childhood interest in literature was re-enforced by five years living close to Stratford-upon-Avon and she also worked variously as a bookseller and as a librarian in two Oxford Colleges, being the first woman ever to work in that of Christ Church.
She was widely travelled and has a particular interest in both Greece and Russia.
Her first novel was published in 1957, but it was not until 1970 that she turned her hand to crime writing. There followed a series of five novels featuring Dr. Patrick Grant, an Oxford Don and amateur sleuth, who shares her own love of Shakespeare. More crime and mystery was to follow, and she wrote some forty three books in all, but the Grant novels were limited to five as, in her own words, ‘authors using a series detective are trapped by their series. It stops some of them from expanding as writers’.
She was proud of the fact that many of her novels were essentially about ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary situations which may threatening, or simply horrific. It is this facet of her writing that ensures a loyal following amongst readers, who inevitably identify with some of the characters and recognise conflicts that may occur in everyday life. Indeed, Yorke stated that characters were far more important to her than intricate plots and that when writing ‘I don’t manipulate the characters, they manipulate me’.
Critics have noted that she has a ‘marvellous use of language’ and she has frequently been cited as an equal to P.D. James and Ruth Rendell. She was a past chairman of the Crime Writers' Association and in 1999 was awarded the Cartier Diamond Dagger, having already been honoured with the Martin Beck Award from the Swedish Academy of Detection.
Margaret Yorke died in 2012.
Margaret Yorke was awarded the 1999 CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger.
Born in Surrey, England, to John and Alison Larminie in 1924, Margaret Yorke (Margaret Beda Nicholson) grew up in Dublin before moving back to England in 1937, where the family settled in Hampshire, although she later lived in a small village in Buckinghamshire.
During World War II she saw service in the Women’s Royal Naval Service as a driver. In 1945, she married, but it was only to last some ten years, although there were two children; a son and daughter. Her childhood interest in literature was re-enforced by five years living close to Stratford-upon-Avon and she also worked variously as a bookseller and as a librarian in two Oxford Colleges, being the first woman ever to work in that of Christ Church.
She was widely travelled and has a particular interest in both Greece and Russia.
Her first novel was published in 1957, but it was not until 1970 that she turned her hand to crime writing. There followed a series of five novels featuring Dr. Patrick Grant, an Oxford Don and amateur sleuth, who shares her own love of Shakespeare. More crime and mystery was to follow, and she wrote some forty three books in all, but the Grant novels were limited to five as, in her own words, ‘authors using a series detective are trapped by their series. It stops some of them from expanding as writers’.
She was proud of the fact that many of her novels were essentially about ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary situations which may threatening, or simply horrific. It is this facet of her writing that ensures a loyal following amongst readers, who inevitably identify with some of the characters and recognise conflicts that may occur in everyday life. Indeed, Yorke stated that characters were far more important to her than intricate plots and that when writing ‘I don’t manipulate the characters, they manipulate me’.
Critics have noted that she has a ‘marvellous use of language’ and she has frequently been cited as an equal to P.D. James and Ruth Rendell. She was a past chairman of the Crime Writers' Association and in 1999 was awarded the Cartier Diamond Dagger, having already been honoured with the Martin Beck Award from the Swedish Academy of Detection.
Margaret Yorke died in 2012.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 9, 2019
Margaret Yorke does it again. Takes a prickley protagonist, and reveals quite a different person after tragedy, and there is always tragedy, with Margaret Yorke. She explores loneliness and quiet desperation in a way I had never read before. Her mysteries, are less about the mystery and more about character explorations.
November 30, 2015
Another short village murder by this author, but I didn't take to this one as much. I think it was that the main characters were an unlikeable bunch on the whole. I couldn't even find any sympathy for the murder victim, or the man wrongly assumed to be the murderer by the police. It all worked out well in the end though!
October 23, 2015
I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13661509
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13661509
April 5, 2020
Denis was abused by his father so he left home. He was sleeping in his sister's van and doing odd jobs for people. There is a prison nearby where inmates have freedom to go into the community to work.
Denis meets a prisoner and they plan a home robbery. When the robbery goes bad, Denis runs, leaving the prisoner behind.
After reading the summary, I thought this would be a good story. Most people rated this book higher than I did. I thought it was only mediocre and would have been better if it had been written by a different author.
Denis meets a prisoner and they plan a home robbery. When the robbery goes bad, Denis runs, leaving the prisoner behind.
After reading the summary, I thought this would be a good story. Most people rated this book higher than I did. I thought it was only mediocre and would have been better if it had been written by a different author.
March 14, 2024
In my opinion it was okay but i wish it has more pages :(
May 18, 2015
This was pretty good - I read it a while back when I was in a mystery phase, but it uses a writing style I don't often enjoy in mystery and thrillers: you know the villain, and the whodunnit. You're riding a long for the thrill of everyone else figuring things out. I've always preferred stories where I'm trying to uncover the mystery of it all, so when I find myself instead reading a thriller, I'm slightly less engaged.
That said, the characterization was good, the setting was solid, and for a thriller, I did actually care about the characters. It's good - it's just not my style.
That said, the characterization was good, the setting was solid, and for a thriller, I did actually care about the characters. It's good - it's just not my style.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews