****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
DCI Judy Hill is trying to be patient through her last month of her first pregnancy. She wants her partner, DCI Lloyd, to take part in the birthing and raising of the baby, but Lloyd, having been through all this before, still has the mindset that it should all be handled by the wife. Hill is involved with the production of Cinderella by a local drama society, and drags Lloyd along to a rehearsal. While there, Lloyd is notified that Estelle Bignall has been found dead after what is at first glance a burglary gone wrong. Her husband Carl Bignall is at the rehearsal when the call comes in, so that leaves him in the clear--or does it? Lloyd is confronted with what at first seems an easy to solve crime, but the more he observes the crime scene, the more questions he has and the more complicated it all seems. A local young thief is tied to the crime, but has never done violence before, and insists he didn't now. The man next door, an ex-cop, seems angry, defiant, and refuses to tell the police anything. There are just too many conflicting clues, and evidence doesn't show a clear timeline for any of the numerous suspects. So was it murder, or just an unfortunate accident?This is the 11th book in the 13-book Hill & Lloyd series. I believe I have read one or two others, but certainly not the entire series. I found this book extremely well written, with engaging and realistic dialog, interesting characters, and a complex plot. The ending totally surprised me, and I like when that happens. Since I haven't read the whole series I can't tell you if they should be read in order, but I was able to quickly grasp the relationships with this one, so it seems that each will stand alone. That said, I would like to find time to go back and read the earlier ones.
