Description
Book Synopsis“Do you think it’s a secret that you are slowly poisoning Mrs Lackland?” When Dr Tom Faithful received the third anonymous letter, he knew it was time to call the police. The wealthy Mrs Cornelia Lackland was recovering steadily from a serious illness, diligently cared for by the doctor, family members and her household staff. But something is amiss in Minsterbridge. Mrs Lackland rules her house with an iron fist, keeping granddaughters Jenny and Carol as virtual prisoners and bullying her attendant Emily Bullen. Scornful and dismissive of everyone, she is planning to make one final change to her will. But before she can meet her solicitor Cornelia Lackland is dead, the apparent victim of a poisoner. As Chief Inspector Dan Pardoe of Scotland Yard and his colleague Sergeant Salt investigate, they find motives for murder much broader than first anticipated. This is a town where everybody’s business is known by everyone else. Pardoe is a satisfying and likeable creation, described by a Sunday Times reviewer as having ‘humanity and common sense as impressive as his intelligence’. Dorothy Bowers was an advocate of the ‘fair play’ school of detective novels, and displayed great ingenuity in piecing together the necessary elements of a baffling mystery, with clues shared freely with the reader. When Inspector Pardoe indicates he knows who the murderer is, the reader knows virtually everything he does. Bower’s great skill is in obscuring her characters' motives, while writing perceptively about their feelings and situation, which allows her to hide the identity of the murderer until exactly the right moment.
Trade Review“Miss Bowers is new this term. Let me be the first member of the staff to extend her a hearty welcome. She has been coached in our traditions, and is likely to settle down quickly. “Postscript to Poison” is a thoroughly satisfying piece of family narcotising — in the old horror’s medicine just before she was going to change her will. Good characters including frustrated wards, one of whom lets a film actor in by the garden gate, and the local doctor, who suffers from attacks by a poison pen. A double bluff by Miss Bowers effectively conceals who did it. This pupil has little to learn, and should go far.”
-- Maurice Richardson * The Observer *
"The author shows herself considerably adept not only in contriving a plot to puzzle readers, but in characterization and command of situation. She recounts a domestic poisoner mystery in which the two spte-grandchildren of the murdered woman, the local doctor, and an anonymous letter writer play important parts. Miss Dorothy Bowers, if her succeeding books maintain the level of her first, should make a name in detective fiction.”
* The Times (London) *
Table of ContentsIntroduction I — and Tomorrow II Twilight of a Goddess III The Late Mrs. Lackland IV Question and Answer V The Last Dose VI Poison and Penmanship VII Mr. Rennie Recalls — VIII I, John Lackland IX Starshine in Chelsea X Shadow over Lacklands XI The Case against X XII Upstairs and Down XIII Appearance and Disappearance XIV Postscript XV Hetty XVI Three Visits XVII A Murderer Strikes Again XVIII True Bill
