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A Hovering of Vultures

by Robert Barnard

There are so many excellent mystery novels by Robert Barnard it's hard not to become a fan. Nor do I know why English mystery writers like Barnard seem so good at their craft. The English crime or mystery writers seem even more adept than our own American ones, unless, of course you prefer the hard-boiled detective type story at which we excel. In A Hovering of Vultures (first published in this country in 1993) Mr. Barnard once again proves his skill at bringing us characters, plot and background combined with a writing proficiency that keeps you reading right through to the end.

Charlie Peace, a young black police detective, has been sent undercover to root out whatever scam Gerald Suzman is pulling off in the village of Micklewike, where Gerald has purchased the farmhouse formerly belonging to Susannah and Josiah Sneddon. Josiah was an inadequate farmer, writing even more inadequate, inscrutable, and poorly received books in his spare time at night. Susannah, his sister, was a somewhat slovenly slattern who also wrote, but her efforts did bring money to the farm, and Gerald seems to be taking advantage of the recent resurgence of her popularity. Add to that the ghoulish fact that Josiah had evidently taken an axe to his sister one night before eliminating himself with a shot through the head. That alone would attract certain types to Gerald's Sneddon Weekend. Gerald Suzman is already well known to the police for some of his previous misdemeanors.

The Sneddon place, named High Maddox Farm, is the headquarters of Gerald's newly organized Sneddon Fellowship, and refurbished as it supposedly was in the Sneddon's time. It's about to be opened to the public and Susannah's faithful fans during the Sneddon Weekend. Before High Maddox Farm is available to one and all, however, there's to be a conference of the faithful at Micklewike's Old Town Hall. Among the crowd gathering there are Gillian Parkin, writing a thesis on Susannah, Letitia Farraday, an older American woman who had been born in Micklewike, Rupert Coggenhoe, a self-important writer accompanied by his wife and attractive daughter, two Norwegians (unrelated), one each of both sexes, Randolph Sneddon,geat-grandnephew of the famed Susannah, and Charlie Peace.

Everything seems above board, and Charlie is having a difficult time finding why Gerald Suzman is backing Susannah Sneddon's work and re-emergence on the literary scene, since the princely sums normally behind Gerald's schemes aren't apparent anywhere this time around. The conference meeting goes well, although Gerald seems to ignore Letitia, who reports that her mother used to take Letitia as a child with her to High Maddox Farm every week when she cleaned for the Sneddons there. Letitia is surrounded after the meeting by eager Susannah fans – Letitia actually KNEW Susannah Sneddon!

When High Maddox Farm is actually opened for tours the following day, Gerald Suzman meets the Potter-Hodges, a local couple who have possession of letters from Susannah. It seems that Felix Potter-Hodge's grandmother was Susannah Sneddon's personal friend. Gerald is naturally interested, and insists that the letters rightfully belong there at High Maddox Farm, but the Potter-Hodges don't want to part with them.

Charlie Peace eventually learns of the letters, and it's through perusal of their content that he learns why and how Gerald plans to add to his wealth in his usual unscrupulous manner. But then Gerald is discovered murdered. Charlie's friend and partner, Mike Oddie, arrives on the scene to help out and discover who murdered Gerald.

Mike and Charlie naturally look first for who would benefit most from Gerald's death. This in turn leads them to the parents of Gerald's goddaughter, to whom he's left everything – which amounts to a rather large fortune. The godparents, however, have irrefutable alibis. When at last the pair find the
murderer, it also uncovers a tie to one of the Sneddon Conference attendees they hadn't suspected. The book closes with a touch of the Robert Barnard humor connected to the novel's apt title.

What else can be said about Robert Barnard? Everything he writes is decidedly readable – and entertaining enough to hold your interest to the very end. Thankfully, most of his work is under three hundred pages and can be read in a single night if you have no interruptions. A Hovering of Vultures, for instance, is only 231 pages in the Scribner publication. But it's not the length of his books that keeps you turning those pages. It's Robert Barnard's genius in firing your desire to learn what happens!


Alan Paul Curtis

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