A Dangerous Deceit

This stately standalone from Eccles (After Clare) hinges on a long-buried secret from the Second Boer War. In rural 1927 Worcestershire, that conflict is nearly forgotten, although it’s recalled in the late Osbert Rees-Talbot’s unfinished memoirs. His grown daughter, Margaret, though stricken by the loss of her father, is planning her wedding to the Rev. Symon Scroope, who grew up on the nearby estate of Maxstead Court. The discovery of an unidentified man’s body in the snow on Maxstead land results in the brief, unwanted attention of the police. The subsequent death of factory owner Arthur Anton, who was Rees-Talbot’s batman during the Boer War, in the nearby village of Folbury brings Det. Insp. Herbert Reardon to town. The thoughtful, scarred Reardon eventually arrives at some answers, but flaccid characters and a slow-moving plot diminish the impact of these revelations. (Dec.)