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Bill Slider #4-6 omnibus
The Second Bill Slider Omnibus
The second three novels in the Bill Slider series—Dead End, Blood Lines, and Killing Time—in which DI Slider investigates the deaths of a conductor, a critic, and an erotic dancer. In Dead End, a call-out to murder saves DI Bill Slider from having to finish his canteen lunch, but it presents him with the problem of a dead conductor. In life, Sir Stefan Radek was seriously famous and terminally unpleasant, but neither of these facts seem reason enough to gun him down in a neo-Byzantine church in Shepherd’s Bush. In Blood Lines, a celebrated music critic seems to have committed suicide just before appearing on a live television show, but Slider suspects it’s murder when he learns that the victim had quarreled violently with his fellow panelists. In Killing Time, only half-recovered from an assault from the last villain he encountered, Slider is forced to investigate the murder of an erotic dancer, finding himself having to question lap dancers, prostitutes, pimps, and cabinet ministers.
768 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2005
44 people want to read
About the author
Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
168 books491 followersCynthia Harrod-Eagles (aka Emma Woodhouse, Elizabeth Bennett)
Cynthia Harrod-Eagles was born on 13 August 1948 in Shepherd's Bush, London, England, where was educated at Burlington School, a girls' charity school founded in 1699, and at the University of Edinburgh and University College London, where she studied English, history and philosophy.
She had a variety of jobs in the commercial world, starting as a junior cashier at Woolworth's and working her way down to Pensions Officer at the BBC.
She wrote her first novel while at university and in 1972 won the Young Writers' Award with The Waiting Game. The birth of the MORLAND DYNASTY series enabled Cynthia Harrod-Eagles to become a full-time writer in 1979. The series was originally intended to comprise twelve volumes, but it has proved so popular that it has now been extended to thirty-four.
In 1993 she won the Romantic Novelists' Association Romantic Novel of the Year Award with Emily, the third volume of her Kirov Saga, a trilogy set in nineteenth century Russia.
Cynthia Harrod-Eagles was born on 13 August 1948 in Shepherd's Bush, London, England, where was educated at Burlington School, a girls' charity school founded in 1699, and at the University of Edinburgh and University College London, where she studied English, history and philosophy.
She had a variety of jobs in the commercial world, starting as a junior cashier at Woolworth's and working her way down to Pensions Officer at the BBC.
She wrote her first novel while at university and in 1972 won the Young Writers' Award with The Waiting Game. The birth of the MORLAND DYNASTY series enabled Cynthia Harrod-Eagles to become a full-time writer in 1979. The series was originally intended to comprise twelve volumes, but it has proved so popular that it has now been extended to thirty-four.
In 1993 she won the Romantic Novelists' Association Romantic Novel of the Year Award with Emily, the third volume of her Kirov Saga, a trilogy set in nineteenth century Russia.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 4, 2021
I would normally review the books in this collection one book at a time. I’ve decided against that since this is a publisher edition rather than something NLS compiled to fit everything onto a cartridge. There are three books in this publisher’s omnibus, and they are the fourth, fifth, and sixth books in this series. I’ve reviewed the first three over several months in the past.
The omnibus begins with the book Dead End, originally published as Grave Music. Someone murders an irascible orchestra conductor, and it’s up to Detective Inspector Bill Slider to figure out how it happened. He has no shortage of suspects since the conductor was in the habit of making enemies wherever he went. He’s also blessed with an ungrateful son-in-law, a drug-addicted loser grandson, and enough money that all of them want a piece of it.
Of equal interest here is Slider’s hapless romance with a violinist from the same orchestra that the conductor worked for prior to his death. He had been carrying on a despicable affair with the woman for two years during his 14-year marriage to a social climber gold digger woman who bore their two children. Just as the weak-charactered Slider determined hard-core that he would break the news to his wife in a previous book that he had been having an affair, she announces that she, too, has competed for the extramarital diddle the rich guy championship. She leaves him in a previous book and takes the two ungrateful children.
The problem is, the lovely violinist wanted nothing more to do with the vacillating Slider, pointing out that her pride counted for something. So as book four in the series begins, (the first book in the omnibus), Slider is devoid of both wife and girlfriend. Read this first book in the omnibus to see whether or how that changes.
In the second book, Bloodlines, a music critic brutally dies while preparing for a TV interview. Everyone but Bill Slider believes a cop murdered the critic. But something doesn’t seem right to Slider, and his investigation demonstrates the kind of slog legwork you think of when you think of British police procedurals.
There are times when I wonder whether some editing wouldn’t be helpful for these books, but on balance, you understand why the content matters.
The final book in the omnibus is Killing Time. Someone murders a drag queen, and his female stripper roommate has been an informant to Slider in the past. Slider feels horrible about the death because he brushed off the drag queen when he came to Slider’s office. The investigation draws Slider into the world of sex workers. It’s a challenge that he’s barely up for, considering the events in the middle book of the omnibus.
I’m constantly impressed with Harrod-Eagles’s knowledge of the Bible. Her characters quote from it, and she titles some of her chapters after biblical passages. There’s a story behind that, and it would fascinate me to learn what it is.
The relationship between Slider and his wife, Maureen, who has left him, continues to evolve in interesting ways. In short, this is a series I’ll continue to read and enjoy, but having read three one after another, I’m going to let it lie dormant for a few months. There’s nothing worse than causing series burnout—a burnout that I could have prevented.
The omnibus begins with the book Dead End, originally published as Grave Music. Someone murders an irascible orchestra conductor, and it’s up to Detective Inspector Bill Slider to figure out how it happened. He has no shortage of suspects since the conductor was in the habit of making enemies wherever he went. He’s also blessed with an ungrateful son-in-law, a drug-addicted loser grandson, and enough money that all of them want a piece of it.
Of equal interest here is Slider’s hapless romance with a violinist from the same orchestra that the conductor worked for prior to his death. He had been carrying on a despicable affair with the woman for two years during his 14-year marriage to a social climber gold digger woman who bore their two children. Just as the weak-charactered Slider determined hard-core that he would break the news to his wife in a previous book that he had been having an affair, she announces that she, too, has competed for the extramarital diddle the rich guy championship. She leaves him in a previous book and takes the two ungrateful children.
The problem is, the lovely violinist wanted nothing more to do with the vacillating Slider, pointing out that her pride counted for something. So as book four in the series begins, (the first book in the omnibus), Slider is devoid of both wife and girlfriend. Read this first book in the omnibus to see whether or how that changes.
In the second book, Bloodlines, a music critic brutally dies while preparing for a TV interview. Everyone but Bill Slider believes a cop murdered the critic. But something doesn’t seem right to Slider, and his investigation demonstrates the kind of slog legwork you think of when you think of British police procedurals.
There are times when I wonder whether some editing wouldn’t be helpful for these books, but on balance, you understand why the content matters.
The final book in the omnibus is Killing Time. Someone murders a drag queen, and his female stripper roommate has been an informant to Slider in the past. Slider feels horrible about the death because he brushed off the drag queen when he came to Slider’s office. The investigation draws Slider into the world of sex workers. It’s a challenge that he’s barely up for, considering the events in the middle book of the omnibus.
I’m constantly impressed with Harrod-Eagles’s knowledge of the Bible. Her characters quote from it, and she titles some of her chapters after biblical passages. There’s a story behind that, and it would fascinate me to learn what it is.
The relationship between Slider and his wife, Maureen, who has left him, continues to evolve in interesting ways. In short, this is a series I’ll continue to read and enjoy, but having read three one after another, I’m going to let it lie dormant for a few months. There’s nothing worse than causing series burnout—a burnout that I could have prevented.
November 6, 2019
I can't rave enough about this collection of mystery books. The author's storylines, great characters, clever and sometimes hilarious and very British writing style, make me an addict. I came across this author accidentally, when my neighbor turned me on to this author. I read the Second Omnibus and just ordered #1 and #4. Then I will be caught up and can order the newer Bill Slider mysteries.
January 10, 2011
This is an enjoyable British police procedural series! I got a little tired of Slider's sad love life in the first novel in this omnibus, but it picked up from all the pity and was still interesting. The characters are really good with quips (in fact, they all are so fond of puns that they end up sounding alike) and the whole cast is entertaining. I've ordered the other omnibuses and plan to read them soon.
February 13, 2013
Actually this is three mysteries in one huge volume: Dead End, Blood Lines, and Killing Time. and now on to the Third Omnibus........
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews