Product Description

Life has not been easy for 12-year-old Tammy Franklin. Her mother has passed away, and now her father's new wife has been found stabbed to death. Superintendent Markby is the first on the scene, and he must protect Tammy, as her father is the primary suspect. No one is talking, and Markby and Mitchell are faced with a truth far more complex than they imagined.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1081310 in Books
• Published on: 2000-03-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In her 12th mystery featuring British civil servant Meredith Mitchell and her policeman lover, Alan Markby, Granger probes the secrets of an unhappy family to discover the truth behind a nasty murder. Gypsy Danny Smith is checking his rabbit traps in a wooded area near a railway embankment when he makes a grisly discovery: the body of the wife of a local farmer, Hugh Franklin. Smith conceals evidence that places the farmer's daughter, 12-year-old Tammy, at the scene. Soon the police are investigating the crime, and Markby finds himself drawn into the investigation. Meredith also becomes involved, through an acquaintance, Jane Brady, who is one of Tammy's teachers. Could Tammy or her father have murdered Sonia Franklin? Jane believes passionately in their innocence, but there seem to be few other suspects, other than Danny Smith or Hugh Franklin's brother, Simon, a well-known historian. While trying to sort out a lull in their often touchy relationship, Meredith and Alan approach the case from different angles, eventually arriving at the tragic truth. As usual, Granger offers a tidily constructed, enjoyable whodunit. (Feb.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Yet another homicide for Superintendent Alan Markbys Bamford precinct (Call the Dead Again, 1999, etc.). Widower Hugh Franklin, owner of none-too-prosperous Hazelwood Farm and father of 12-year-old Tammy, had taken another wife, fun-loving, man-chasing Sonia Lambert. As might be predicted, the marriage had never worked too well, but Hugh, his bookish brother Simon, and everyone who knew her are shocked when Sonias body, stabbed to death, is found on a nearby railway embankment by gypsy Danny Smith. As Markby and newly promoted Inspector Dave Pearce begin their investigation, Jane Brady, Tammys teacher at St. Clares, tries to help but soon suspects that Tammy is hiding something. Markbys girlfriend Meredith Mitchell, a Foreign Service worker now based in London and owner of an ancient cottage in Bamford, also tries to help by checking out the suspects who had reason to cheer Sonias death. The line begins just down the road from Hazelwood Farm, at the modest B&B run by Derry and Belinda Haywood. Derry was one of Sonias flings; so was woodworker Peter Burke, once involved with Jane. Simon Franklin, recently broken up and then reconciled with Bethan Talbot, was another of Sonias targets. Not until Merediths house has been thoroughly vandalizedand Derry Haywood viciously attacked, and Tammy has told alldoes the solution arrive. The customary assortment of intriguing locals adds interest and a bit of tension to a generally phlegmatic plot: a boon, nevertheless, to lovers of the British village procedural. -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About the Author
In common with her heroine, Ann Granger has worked in British embassies in various parts of the world. She met her husband, who was also working for the British Embassy, in Prague and together they received postings to places as far apart as Munich and Lusaka. They are now permanently based in Bicester, near Oxford.

Customer Reviews

Good addition to this long-running mystery series
Inspector Alan Markby asks his long time girlfriend Meredith Mitchell to marry him, but she rejects his request. They continue to see one another, but their relationship has turned awkward as neither one is fully comfortable with the other at this time.

That changes when Alan begins an investigation that Meredith finds interesting. The Smith family members are tinkers who always stay on the Hazlewood Farm when they are in the area. This time when they park their camper, the murdered corpse of the farmer's wife greets the Smith patriarch. The tinker and the deceased's spouse Hugh report her stabbing death to the police. The victim's adolescent daughter Tammy is distraught over the woman's death and worries what will happen to her and he father, especially since evidence points towards Hugh. Tammy's teacher asks her friend Meredith to uncover the truth behind the slaying. Meredith and Alan travel down numerous paths in search of that elusive truth.

The twelfth Mitchell and Markby mystery remarkably retains its freshness due to the twists to their relationship. Readers obtain a glimpse of life in a small British village through the eyes of the lead characters. Alan and Meredith narrate the story line. That method works as it provides insight into what each one is thinking about their relationship as well as the case. The police investigation is entertaining especially the behind the scenes activities of an aid. An Ann Granger novel is always a wonderful reading experience and BENEATH THESE STONES proves the veracity of that statement.

Harriet Klausner

Satisfying but not outstanding
There's nothing really remarkable about this book to make it resonate in a reader's memory. On the other hand, if you like English village mysteries - with the implied promise that the villain can be found among the residents described and won't turn out to be a passing serial killer - you'll appreciate this story. Granger gives us plenty of players with motives and doesn't make it easy to spot the crucial one. Unfortunately, her leading characters have come to an "awkward" point in their relationship and aren't a lot of fun to be with. Let's hope they work things out before becoming less pleasant company than the bad guys they're chasing.

Reads like an early Deborah Crombie....
If you want an easy to read and mildly entertaining book for a long flight somewhere-this is the book for you. The characters are sterotypical--including a career policeman with a failed marriage, his professional but meddlesome girl-friend, a troubled child, her caring teacher, an embittered husband (of the corpse-natch), and gypsies not much different from Auntie Mabel and Uncle Herbert who bought a camper for traveling around the U.K. Heck, this book isn't even scary. Granger will make a mistake if she marries the two main characters at some point--then there'll be no tension. Well, I read it anyway, but hey, I'm home sick today with a head cold.