A Broken Path

by Ann Pilling

In death, as in life, Anna Beardmore seems determined to be noticed. Raped, then strangled, she is left sitting at her desk in the front room of her Dales cottage, as if about to start on one of the Saddleford novels that have made her fortune. Her friend traces the pattern of her final days.

Hardcover

Published July 18, 1991

About the author

Born in 1944 in Lancashire, British poet and children's author Ann Pilling read English at King’s College, London, where she wrote her thesis on C.S. Lewis' fiction. She has published over thirty books for children, one of which - Henry's Leg - won The Guardian Prize for Children’s Fiction. She has two sons, six grandchildren, and currently lives in the Yorkshire Dales. Since 2003, she has concentrated on writing poetry, rather than fiction.

Reviews

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anna Beardmore, a popular novelist, has been murdered in a particularly horrifying manner in her country cottage. Anna plagiarized other people’s lives to fill her novels, and her best friend Grace - or at least Grace thinks she’s Anna’s best friend - is a cowering, needy doormat who allows herself to be used and bullied by almost everyone in the story. None of the main characters here is very likeable. This is a long read in which the mystery falls to the wayside a bit as Grace investigates Anna’s death and fends off even more bullies. Secondary characters here are interesting enough to avoid being stock, and the plot does provide a few genuine surprises. The identity of the murderer isn’t too obvious but if you have an imagination and read carefully, the author has planted clues all the way along. Figuring out the meaning of the title adds another layer of conjecture to the story too. The ending was a total shock, and I can think of only one other book that surprised me in the same way. The writing is meticulous and layered, and reads almost like Barbara Pym with some sex and gore thrown in. 4 stars.

[BB Elsin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a literary book which just happens to include a brutal murder. It does include elements of "whodunnit?" that keep you guessing - the list of potential suspects, some of whom were in the wrong place at the wrong time, the bungling and distractions of the police, etc. However, the story is really about the victim's best friend and what the murder does to her and means to her. She wants to know "whodunnit?", or does she? She is the sort of person who would be described as ordinary. Her Christian faith and her devotion to caring for her mother have even been parodied in one of the victim's books. Suddenly she is flung into extraordinary circumstances and goes on an intricate journey, making mistake after mistake, until her final one...

[Mary Haines · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spooky