Dear Departed: A Bill Slider Mystery (Bill Slider Mysteries) (ISBN 0312347685)

An enjoyable read:
Detective Inspector Bill Slider is back in this tenth entry in the series. In this outing, DS Slider investigates the death of a jogger found off the trail in a park. At first it looks like a serial killer dubbed the "Park Killer" has struck, but after some investigation too many things do not add up and it is determined that the another killer decided to copycat. The victim, Charlotte"Chattie" Cornfeld, had her own consulting business. She did public relations, website designing and general business matters that her clients like the jazz band, Baroque Solid, needed done. Chattie was an outgoing and lovely young woman whom everyone seemed to like. Why was she found dead in the park? DS Slider delves into the puzzle of Chattie's life to find motive and opportunity in a cast of divergent characters. When I sit down with a Bill Slider mystery I always know it will be a good story. As always this Slider series is a cleverly plotted police procedural. The slow unraveling of the clues will keep you guessing until the end. Even though the previous books are worth reading, the story is very much stand alone so if you have never read the series, you would not be remiss to start with the most recent.

a good choice to unwind with:
If you're looking for a good book to curl up with in order to forget the seasonal madness that the year's end brings or if you'd like to forget that it is bloody cold outside right now, then this is the book that I'd recommend to fight off those seasonal blues! Clever, witty and wholly engaging, "Dearly Departed" was a treat of a read all round! Detective Inspector Bill Slider would like to be able to give his wholly undivided attention to his pregnant fiancee, Joanna. Unfortunately, murder and the latest serial killer, the Park Killer, seemed to have conspired once again to thwart his wishes. When woman's body is found in the park one early one morning, everyone assumes that the Park Killer (so called because he has committed two such murders already in two other parks) has struck again. A post mortem, however, reveals that this latest killing was not the handiwork of the Park Killer, but rather the inept attempt of someone trying to pass of the killing as that of the serial killer's. Quickly Slider and his team try to establish the victim's identity in order to work out if the murder had a killing was a personal. angle to it or not. What they discover a young woman who was well liked but who seemed to have a very entangled family life -- jealous and resentful half sisters and ex-boyfriends that can't seem to let go. Could one of them have been angry enough to plot her death? "Dearly Departed" was a rather fun read, more so because of Cynthia Harrod-Eagles' clever and droll prose style. Though truth be told there were spots when I thought that her writing was getting a little too coy and arch for words. Fortunately, this only happened twice and so my reading pleasure was saved. The mystery-investigative subplot unfolded along slightly predictable lines, so that what really made this a fun and enjoyable read was the repartee and quips that the police officers exchanged, and the author's sympathetic and engaging portrayal D.I. Bill Slider. All in all, this was a completely engaging and absorbing read, and I'm glad that I had an entire afternoon to myself to enjoy "Dearly Departed" with.

A good read!:
Cynthia Harrod-Eagles is a writer living in England, who was born and educated in Shepherd's Bush, West London. Her Bill Slider police procedurals, now numbering ten, are praised for their accuracy, wit, characters and stories. Dear Departed begins with the discovery of dead female jogger in a park in London. She has no identification and seems to be the victim of a serial park killer who slashes his victims in broad daylight. Oddly enough, her wounds do not seem serious, and her background, once Detective Inspector Slider and his team find out her identity, seems unusual, to say the least. She had been working in public relations for a new Baroque jazz band, called Baroque Solid (indeed she is identified because she was playing one of their demo CDs). Her name was Charlotte Cornfeld, "Chattie." She lived in a very nice house, scrupulously clean, and oddly too expensive for someone who is young and just starting out in business. Did she have an unusual source of money? Had it come from her divorced parents? They eventually discover her father is Henry Cornfeld, of Cornfeld Chemicals, and she had received a monetary gift from him that she invested in real state wisely, leading to her present comfortable home. Rumors are floating around that Cornfeld Chemicals might be purchased by another chemical giant, a move that might mean a lot of money for the Cornfeld family stockholders. Chattie's jealous half-sister Jasmine is involved in a very unsavory and dangerous life style, and had crashed in a room in Chattie's house occasionally. Could she or her violent boyfriend have been the cause of Chattie's murder? Slider and Detective Sargeant Jim Atherton work to dig out the truth in Chattie's unusual short life. Slider's pregnant soon-to-be-wife Joanna, who has given up her orchestra job in Amsterdamn to be with him, is not as involved in this case as in the past. Armchair Interviews says: Sounds like a fun read with interesting characters, especially appealing if you like reading anything written about England and its charming and unique surroundings.

Enjoyable from start to finish:
I wasn't sure I'd be able to read this, 'my first Slider mystery' without having read the previous books but was really glad I did. It was an engaging novel from the start, simple but intriguing. I liked the way the author uses the characters to comment on things the (British) reader has often wondered, such as whether the British police department IS just like it's portrayed on the telly in 'The Bill', and the Cockney rhyming slang thrown in such as 'syrup' (syrup of figs = wig). If you're looking for a book that typifies both everyday life and criminal investigation in England then this is it. I have to say that I did guess 'whodunnit' about half way through but that didn't make it any less enjoyable because I wasn't 100% sure plus didn't know the motive. All the characters were very believable and even recognisable, Harrod-Eagles certainly is an excellent observer of people.

Enjoyable from start to finish.:
I wasn't sure I'd be able to read this, 'my first Slider mystery' without having read the previous books but was really glad I did. It was an engaging novel from the start, simple but intriguing. I liked the way the author uses the characters to comment on things the (British) reader has often wondered, such as whether the British police department IS just like it's portrayed on the telly in 'The Bill', and the Cockney rhyming slang thrown in such as 'syrup' (syrup of figs = wig). If you're looking for a book that typifies both everyday life and criminal investigation in England then this is it. I have to say that I did guess 'whodunnit' about half way through but that didn't make it any less enjoyable because I wasn't 100% sure plus didn't know the motive. All the characters were very believable and even recognisable, Harrod-Eagles certainly is an excellent observer of people.