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Chief Inspector Woodend #16
Sins of the Fathers
A politician spills his guts - all over the road!
The discovery of Bradley Pine's body in a lay-by off a busy road clearly signals the end of his bid to win the local bye-election. But what is even clearer - from the state in which the corpse is found - is that this is no ordinary murder.
Why would the killer run the risk of dumping the body in such a public place, DCI Charlie Woodend asks himself?
And, even more significantly, why should he - post mortem - decide not only to reduce his victim's mouth to a pulp but also to partly disembowel him?
With the election looming - and Chief Constable Marlowe, Woodend's old enemy, taking over Pine's place as candidate - the pressure is on to come up with a result. Any result!
But the more Woodend learns of the case, the more he comes to believe that not only is the motive behind the murder at least as bizarre the crime itself, but that the origins of the crime lie in a mountain-climbing tragedy which occurred three years earlier.
The discovery of Bradley Pine's body in a lay-by off a busy road clearly signals the end of his bid to win the local bye-election. But what is even clearer - from the state in which the corpse is found - is that this is no ordinary murder.
Why would the killer run the risk of dumping the body in such a public place, DCI Charlie Woodend asks himself?
And, even more significantly, why should he - post mortem - decide not only to reduce his victim's mouth to a pulp but also to partly disembowel him?
With the election looming - and Chief Constable Marlowe, Woodend's old enemy, taking over Pine's place as candidate - the pressure is on to come up with a result. Any result!
But the more Woodend learns of the case, the more he comes to believe that not only is the motive behind the murder at least as bizarre the crime itself, but that the origins of the crime lie in a mountain-climbing tragedy which occurred three years earlier.
232 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
6 people are currently reading
61 people want to read
About the author
Sally Spencer
81 books152 followersA pseudonym used by Alan Rustage.
Sally Spencer is a pen name, first adopted when the author (actually called Alan Rustage) was writing sagas and it was almost obligatory that a woman's name appeared on the cover (other authors like Emma Blair and Mary Jane Staples are also men).
Before becoming a full-time writer, he was a teacher. In 1978-79 he was working in Iran and witnessed the fall of the Shah (see the Blog for what it was like to live through a revolution). He got used to having rifles - and, one occasion, a rocket launcher - pointed at him by both soldiers and revolutionaries, but he was never entirely comfortable with it.
He lived in Madrid for over twenty years, and still considers it the most interesting and exciting city he has ever visited, but for the last few years he has opted for a quieter life in the seaside town of Calpe, on the Costa Blanca.
His first series of books were historical sagas set in Cheshire (where he grew up) and London. They were very popular with his English readers, but his American readers find the dialect something of a strain.
He has written twenty books featuring DCI Woodend (a character based partly on a furniture dealer he used to play dominoes with) and ten (so far!) about Woodend's protegé Monika Paniatowski.
His DI Sam Blackstone books are set in Victorian/Edwardian London, New York and Russia, and the Inspector Paco Ruiz books have as their backdrop the Spanish Civil War.
Alan is a competitive games player who likes bridge and pub quizzes. It is only by enforcing iron discipline that he doesn't play video games all the time.
He now lives on Spain's Costa Blanca.
Sally Spencer is a pen name, first adopted when the author (actually called Alan Rustage) was writing sagas and it was almost obligatory that a woman's name appeared on the cover (other authors like Emma Blair and Mary Jane Staples are also men).
Before becoming a full-time writer, he was a teacher. In 1978-79 he was working in Iran and witnessed the fall of the Shah (see the Blog for what it was like to live through a revolution). He got used to having rifles - and, one occasion, a rocket launcher - pointed at him by both soldiers and revolutionaries, but he was never entirely comfortable with it.
He lived in Madrid for over twenty years, and still considers it the most interesting and exciting city he has ever visited, but for the last few years he has opted for a quieter life in the seaside town of Calpe, on the Costa Blanca.
His first series of books were historical sagas set in Cheshire (where he grew up) and London. They were very popular with his English readers, but his American readers find the dialect something of a strain.
He has written twenty books featuring DCI Woodend (a character based partly on a furniture dealer he used to play dominoes with) and ten (so far!) about Woodend's protegé Monika Paniatowski.
His DI Sam Blackstone books are set in Victorian/Edwardian London, New York and Russia, and the Inspector Paco Ruiz books have as their backdrop the Spanish Civil War.
Alan is a competitive games player who likes bridge and pub quizzes. It is only by enforcing iron discipline that he doesn't play video games all the time.
He now lives on Spain's Costa Blanca.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 29, 2021
🥰 this series
Elizabeth Driver is a good villain. A femme fatale. And poor Bob Rutter is her new target. And poor Monika.
Elizabeth Driver is a good villain. A femme fatale. And poor Bob Rutter is her new target. And poor Monika.
March 10, 2019
Very good. But only 4 more in the series. I guess the author continues a spin off though with one of the other detectives.
January 14, 2018
This is an oddly complicated book (and not that long to sort the whole thing out either)--two detectives that had an affair with each other are asked to work together on a new case. SA local politician is found beaten and disemboweled on a roadside, and it seems to be connected to an event that happened two years before, where there was a freak snow storm, and some people did not make it out alive. Was there foul play (of course, you have to think) and what exactly is it all about.
April 9, 2019
Great mystery series!
March 10, 2019
** edit I stand corrected. Read in order for better enjoyment. Thanks Elizabeth. **
I didn't realise this was number 16 when I read it so I think you can read them individually without missing too much. Good plotline and moves at a steady pace.
I didn't realise this was number 16 when I read it so I think you can read them individually without missing too much. Good plotline and moves at a steady pace.
January 28, 2009
If you like a good English mystery with intricate characters, this author is one of my favorites. U must read in order as the lives of the characters go on from book to book. Go on www.stopyourekillingme.com
to find out the order to read them in. These mysteries are quite clever and not boring!
to find out the order to read them in. These mysteries are quite clever and not boring!
August 27, 2010
I love a good Britsh mystery. Sally Spencer is reliable for a good story
December 17, 2014
Excellent book with gripping plot.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews