The Dead of Winter

Ackroyd and Thackeray #3

by Patricia Hall

It is a bitter winter in Yorkshire when Bradfield's Chief Inspector Michael Thackeray is called to investigate the death of young estate agent Linda Wright, found drowned in her own car in a nearby reservoir. Reporter Laura Ackroyd, whose relationship with Thackeray is too close to be called friendship and too precarious to be called an affair, has recently transferred from Bradfield to the nearby town of Arnedale to work on the local newspaper for just a few months, and she's received a less than warm welcome from the locals. She soon uncovers a link between a story she's working on about corruption in local land deals and the death of Linda Wright. Then another woman is killed, this time someone directly involved in protesting the land development. Thackeray and Ackroyd, crossing paths personally and in their respective professions, are determined to pursue the solution to this absorbing case through to its deadly finish.

Genres: Mystery

250 pages, Hardcover

First published November 2, 1995

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

[Alan Middlemass · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intricate but not unfathomable

So I know this is a series of romance in a minefield with barbed wire. Book1 was bog standard not going near each other. Now we have picked at his history. Hers was transparent on page 1, book 1.

And he solves murders. She resolves issues. More or less.

The story is not swamped with detail. At one end a fraud of a size that is revealed gradually with a dead body. At the other more than a hint of corruption both moral and the usual. And another dead body.

And the ends meet in the middle and both lovers are triumphant. Although Thackeray still has a chunk of his life unexplained with a mother at death's door and seemingly unlikely to be mourned??

[Stven · Rating 2 out of 5]

Querying goodreads for the title, I found that this was the 28th "The Dead of Winter" in their list. A little too pat.

As the title, so the tale. Ms. Hall has constructed a detective story in the well-worn mold, a smart policeman with a girlfriend in a bit of a bumpy relationship. They aren't happy together though they both wish they were. Her work as a journalist helps move the plot forward. His past in the Yorkshire village where he grew up complicates matters when their investigations wind up there.

It's not a bad book, but I didn't find it engrossing or compelling.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just started last night. Author reminiscent of Peter Robinson, Deborah Crombie, etc.....some of my favorite authors.
3rd in series.

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bettie's Books

[Linda Underwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

English mystery. Inspector Thackery and journalist Ackroyd solve the murders fo two women while investigating a land fraud scheme.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll read more of this series.