cover image Wycliffe and the Dunes Mystery

Wycliffe and the Dunes Mystery

W. J. Burley. St. Martin's Press, $18.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-312-11100-7

Fifteen years ago at an English seaside cottage, six teenagers relished a secret weekend lark until something terrible happened, something they've never revealed. Now a coastal storm has exhumed a long-dead body from the dunes, and Detective Chief Superintendent Charles Wycliffe, appearing in his 15th procedural (after Wycliffe and the Last Rites ), launches his savvy team in pursuit of answers. Still living in charming St. Ives are the original six. Two of the girls are housewives, the other owns a health shop; the boys are now a respected doctor, a gauche real estate agent and a randy artist. None seems to have fulfilled his or her early promise. In the mail Wycliffe receives a photo that may incriminate one of the six; a rich old eccentric, the uncle of another one of the group is murdered; then yet another of the group disappears. After a solid, if not terribly exciting outing, Wycliffe finally reconstructs events and brings charges against a modern-day murderer. (June)