A Scandal in Belgravia (Missing Mystery) - Softcover

Barnard, Robert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1890208167 ISBN 13: 9781890208165

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press, 1991

Synopsis

Murder pays no respect to rank...or the neighborhood. And so it happened that young aristocrat Timothy Wycliffe was bludgeoned to death in his elegantly furnished flat in Belgravia by a person or persons unknown. Unknown, in fact, for 30 years.

Then the dead man's friend Peter Proctor -- once a young man on his way up in the diplomatic service, now a retired Member of Parliament -- seeks an antidote to boredom by attempting to write his own memoirs. Unfortunately, they seem to be creating more problems than he anticipated, and not just of the writer's-block variety. Peter keeps getting sidetracked by speculations on Timothy's death. The murder was allegedly accomplished by a beating from one of his boyfriends. But Peter can't accept so simple a solution, so he begins to probe the past. In so doing, he opens a fascinating window on British society during the 1950s and its changing -- and unchanging -- mores since.

About this title

Review

"Ever-versatile Barnard (A City of Strangers, etc.) gives us a low-keyed story told by wryly self-deprecating widower and ex- cabinet minister Peter Proctor, now retired and writing memoirs that even he finds boring--until his memory of Timothy Wycliffe is revived. Timothy, son of a prominent politician, was a brilliant charmer, a promiscuous, not very closeted homosexual at a time when that could mean a jail sentence in England. He and Proctor were friends, not lovers, and worked together at the Foreign Office. Then, 30 years ago, at the height of the Suez crisis, Timothy was murdered--according to the police, by his Scottish pal Andrew Forbes, who took off for Spain and was never tried. Here, Proctor is haunted by a feeling that Forbes may have been innocent and sets out to find the truth. The search takes him to Forbes's sister, to Los Angeles, where his own son and grandson live, and finally to Wycliffe's aristocratic family and his still-living father. What he discovers is a shock

""Ever-versatile Barnard (A City of Strangers, etc.) gives us a low-keyed story told by wryly self-deprecating widower and ex- cabinet minister Peter Proctor, now retired and writing memoirs that even he finds boring--until his memory of Timothy Wycliffe is revived. Timothy, son of a prominent politician, was a brilliant charmer, a promiscuous, not very closeted homosexual at a time when that could mean a jail sentence in England. He and Proctor were friends, not lovers, and worked together at the Foreign Office. Then, 30 years ago, at the height of the Suez crisis, Timothy was murdered--according to the police, by his Scottish pal Andrew Forbes, who took off for Spain and was never tried. Here, Proctor is haunted by a feeling that Forbes may have been innocent and sets out to find the truth. The search takes him to Forbes's sister, to Los Angeles, where his own son and grandson live, and finally to Wycliffe's aristocratic family and his still-living father. What he discovers is a shocker--and there's another yet to come. The reader may doubt the ability of Proctor and other characters to recall in detail 30-year-old conversations and events, but Proctor's story is quietly engrossing all the way to its jolting conclusion.
-- Copyright )1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved""

About the Author

Born in Essex, England, and educated at the Royal Grammar School in Colchester, and Balliol College in Oxford, Robert Barnard spent a number of years as a distinguised academic while making himself known as a delightful crime writer.

He has won the Cartier Diamond Dagger, Britain's prestigious mystery award, the Nero Wolfe Award, the Anthony Award, the Agatha Award, the Macavity Award, and the Golden Handcuffs Award. He is an eight-time nominee for the Edgar, and a present member of Britain's Detection Club.

Barnard lives with his wife Louise in Yorkshire, England, the general location for many of his novels.

About this edition

• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 1890208167
• ISBN 13: 9781890208165
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 260