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A grim note next to the body of a murdered police officer, who was investigating internal police corruption, burdens Commander John Coffin with a difficult task that further complicates his investigation into a series of deaths of young children. Reprint.

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 1998

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About the author

Gwendoline Butler

89 books20 followers
Gwendoline Williams Butler (aka Jennie Melville)

Gwendoline Williams was born on 19th August 1922 in South London, England, UK, daughter of Alice (Lee) and Alfred Edward Williams, her younger twin brothers are also authors. Educated at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, where she read History, and later lectured there. On 16th October 1949, she married Dr Lionel Harry Butler (1923-1981), a professor of medieval history at University of St. Andrews and historian, Fellow of All Souls and Principal of Royal Holloway College. The marriage had a daughter, Lucilla Butler.

In 1956, she started to published John Coffin novels under her married name, Gwendoline Butler. In 1962, she decided used her grandmother's name, Jennie Melville as pseudonym to sign her Charmian Daniels novels. She was credited for inventing the "woman's police procedural". In addition to her mystery series, she also wrote romantic novels. In 1981, her novel The Red Staircase won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association.

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Profile Image for Les Wilson.
1,865 reviews15 followers
June 26, 2023
Not the best one, but I do enjoy this series
937 reviews13 followers
July 21, 2019
A well written mystery. I liked the character Coffin and the way he saw things, however this was not the type of story I like to read. But once started I had to finish
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews