Windsor Red

Charmian Daniels, a British policewoman on her way up, is using a sabbatical ostensibly taken to study women and crime as a cover to investigate the activities of a group of female recidivists. A tip has indicated that a serious incident is planned in Windsor. When she interviews the women, Charmian gets the feeling that they are using her, rather than the other way around, and she suspects a connection with the royal family and the various ceremonies that take place in Windsor. Meanwhile, Charmian has taken a flat in Wellington Yard, above the studio of an old friend, Anny Cooper, a potter whose daughter, suspected of killing her lover, has disappeared. Then parts of two bodies are found in Wellington Yard. Could the dismembered limbs belong to the daughter and her lover or to two young doctors, also missing? A possible link with the IRA also surfaces. While pursuing the answers to these questions, Charmian must also deal with her relationship with superior officer Humphrey Kent, who is in love with her. Melville (Tarot's Tower) brings up various feminist issues without being obtrusive and colorfully depicts the ambience of Windsor and the town's interdependence with the royal family. (June)