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Evil Intentions: Find Me a Villain / The Cost of Silence / Crime in Question
739 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2004
6 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Yorke
95 books52 followersMargaret Yorke was an English crime fiction writer, real name Margaret Beda Nicholson (née Larminie).
Margaret Yorke was awarded the 1999 CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger.
Born in Surrey, England, to John and Alison Larminie in 1924, Margaret Yorke (Margaret Beda Nicholson) grew up in Dublin before moving back to England in 1937, where the family settled in Hampshire, although she later lived in a small village in Buckinghamshire.
During World War II she saw service in the Women’s Royal Naval Service as a driver. In 1945, she married, but it was only to last some ten years, although there were two children; a son and daughter. Her childhood interest in literature was re-enforced by five years living close to Stratford-upon-Avon and she also worked variously as a bookseller and as a librarian in two Oxford Colleges, being the first woman ever to work in that of Christ Church.
She was widely travelled and has a particular interest in both Greece and Russia.
Her first novel was published in 1957, but it was not until 1970 that she turned her hand to crime writing. There followed a series of five novels featuring Dr. Patrick Grant, an Oxford Don and amateur sleuth, who shares her own love of Shakespeare. More crime and mystery was to follow, and she wrote some forty three books in all, but the Grant novels were limited to five as, in her own words, ‘authors using a series detective are trapped by their series. It stops some of them from expanding as writers’.
She was proud of the fact that many of her novels were essentially about ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary situations which may threatening, or simply horrific. It is this facet of her writing that ensures a loyal following amongst readers, who inevitably identify with some of the characters and recognise conflicts that may occur in everyday life. Indeed, Yorke stated that characters were far more important to her than intricate plots and that when writing ‘I don’t manipulate the characters, they manipulate me’.
Critics have noted that she has a ‘marvellous use of language’ and she has frequently been cited as an equal to P.D. James and Ruth Rendell. She was a past chairman of the Crime Writers' Association and in 1999 was awarded the Cartier Diamond Dagger, having already been honoured with the Martin Beck Award from the Swedish Academy of Detection.
Margaret Yorke died in 2012.
Margaret Yorke was awarded the 1999 CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger.
Born in Surrey, England, to John and Alison Larminie in 1924, Margaret Yorke (Margaret Beda Nicholson) grew up in Dublin before moving back to England in 1937, where the family settled in Hampshire, although she later lived in a small village in Buckinghamshire.
During World War II she saw service in the Women’s Royal Naval Service as a driver. In 1945, she married, but it was only to last some ten years, although there were two children; a son and daughter. Her childhood interest in literature was re-enforced by five years living close to Stratford-upon-Avon and she also worked variously as a bookseller and as a librarian in two Oxford Colleges, being the first woman ever to work in that of Christ Church.
She was widely travelled and has a particular interest in both Greece and Russia.
Her first novel was published in 1957, but it was not until 1970 that she turned her hand to crime writing. There followed a series of five novels featuring Dr. Patrick Grant, an Oxford Don and amateur sleuth, who shares her own love of Shakespeare. More crime and mystery was to follow, and she wrote some forty three books in all, but the Grant novels were limited to five as, in her own words, ‘authors using a series detective are trapped by their series. It stops some of them from expanding as writers’.
She was proud of the fact that many of her novels were essentially about ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary situations which may threatening, or simply horrific. It is this facet of her writing that ensures a loyal following amongst readers, who inevitably identify with some of the characters and recognise conflicts that may occur in everyday life. Indeed, Yorke stated that characters were far more important to her than intricate plots and that when writing ‘I don’t manipulate the characters, they manipulate me’.
Critics have noted that she has a ‘marvellous use of language’ and she has frequently been cited as an equal to P.D. James and Ruth Rendell. She was a past chairman of the Crime Writers' Association and in 1999 was awarded the Cartier Diamond Dagger, having already been honoured with the Martin Beck Award from the Swedish Academy of Detection.
Margaret Yorke died in 2012.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 19, 2013
Just a great introduction to Margaret Yorke, a very
under-rated mystery writer who, in my opinion, is a lot more
consistent than Ruth Rundell. Always at her best with stories
concerning the fears and loneliness of elderly people.
Find Me a Villain - Nina has just found out her husband has
left her for a much younger woman he has been seeing for
several years and she is devastated. A chance encounter with
a woman in a teashop finds her with a new occupation, she is
to be a housesitter but a series of anonymous phone calls finds
her drawn into her new employers life and past - much more
than she wants to be. To complicate matters there is also a
killer on the loose in a neighbouring town.
The Cost of Silence - One of my favourites, a lot of her books
deal with different themes, this one is about children and dogs!
Jamie is scared of dogs, his earnest mother is determined he
should have one even though his father is unconvinced. He is
especially scared of a big dog who lies in wait for him on his
way to school with the owner's neglect of her toddler a very strong
case for child abuse. Norman, a local shopkeeper, starts to walk
Jamie down that particular street to allay his fears but he has
his own problems. His mother died in mysterious circumstances and
Norman is now married to her nurse. There is also a subplot
involving an elderly woman and her much loved dog, Pedro and how
an encounter with a particularly vicious young thug destroys her
life.
Crime in Question - involves prisoners on work release and the
lives of the families who become involved with them. Audrey, the
elderly woman who gives Jim a job - he is not a hardened criminal
but just someone who got into debt through his wife's extravagance.
Yvonne and Charles, another couple, are struggling to keep up
payments on their home while Charles is being hauled over the
coals by his demanding ex-wife.
The only problem with Margaret Yorke books are the titles. To me
they are just too generic, almost plucked out of the air and don't
seem to bear much relation to the actual plots.
under-rated mystery writer who, in my opinion, is a lot more
consistent than Ruth Rundell. Always at her best with stories
concerning the fears and loneliness of elderly people.
Find Me a Villain - Nina has just found out her husband has
left her for a much younger woman he has been seeing for
several years and she is devastated. A chance encounter with
a woman in a teashop finds her with a new occupation, she is
to be a housesitter but a series of anonymous phone calls finds
her drawn into her new employers life and past - much more
than she wants to be. To complicate matters there is also a
killer on the loose in a neighbouring town.
The Cost of Silence - One of my favourites, a lot of her books
deal with different themes, this one is about children and dogs!
Jamie is scared of dogs, his earnest mother is determined he
should have one even though his father is unconvinced. He is
especially scared of a big dog who lies in wait for him on his
way to school with the owner's neglect of her toddler a very strong
case for child abuse. Norman, a local shopkeeper, starts to walk
Jamie down that particular street to allay his fears but he has
his own problems. His mother died in mysterious circumstances and
Norman is now married to her nurse. There is also a subplot
involving an elderly woman and her much loved dog, Pedro and how
an encounter with a particularly vicious young thug destroys her
life.
Crime in Question - involves prisoners on work release and the
lives of the families who become involved with them. Audrey, the
elderly woman who gives Jim a job - he is not a hardened criminal
but just someone who got into debt through his wife's extravagance.
Yvonne and Charles, another couple, are struggling to keep up
payments on their home while Charles is being hauled over the
coals by his demanding ex-wife.
The only problem with Margaret Yorke books are the titles. To me
they are just too generic, almost plucked out of the air and don't
seem to bear much relation to the actual plots.
June 26, 2016
First two books were great. Really enjoyed them. Third book let it down a little. But if you like crime stories set in small English towns and villages, you should read these.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews