The Company She Kept: An Inspector Gil Mayo Mystery

In his fifth case (following Late of This Parish, 1994), British Detective Chief Inspector Gil Mayo explores questions of moral, ethical and intellectual responsibility. A cryptic, anonymous letter intimating at evil doings in the past, including murder, arrives at Mayo's CID room shortly before the body of a strangled woman is found on the moor. As Mayo investigates, readers learn of a 1978 gathering at a remote country house called Flowerdew. Owned by Kitty Wilbraham, the elderly widow of a prominent archeologist, Flowerdew was at the center of a group of young people: Kitty's secretary; a handyman; Kitty's doctor, Madeleine Freeman, and Madeleine's lifelong friend, Angie Robinson; a young man about to go up to Oxford; and the daughter of one of Professor Wilbraham's colleagues. All seemed happy together until a sudden violent death one night dispersed them. The silence they agreed at that time to maintain is ended when the Oxford student, now a businessman, receives a manuscript of a novel depicting that night's events, which are also referred to in the letter to the police. Then the dead woman is identified as Angie Robinson. Mayo and readers piece together gradually revealed bits of information connecting both murders. Rich with complex characters and insights, this tale offers the added pleasure of Mayo's new sergeant, Abigail Moon, an intelligent, attractive young woman who knows the value of humor and common sense. (Aug.)