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Helen West #3
Deep Sleep
The "most psychologically assured novel to date" (The Times) by an Edgar Award nominee. Despite the warnings put forth by her friend Chief Superintendent Geoffrey Bailey, apprentice pharmacist Helen West begins an investigation into the suspicious death of another pharmacist's wife--and uncovers a viper's nest of jealousy, rage, and lethal addictions.
197 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1991
About the author
Frances Fyfield
85 books67 followersAka Frances Hegarty.
Frances Fyfield is a criminal lawyer, who lives in London and in Deal, by the sea which is her passion. She has won several awards, including the CWA Silver Dagger.
She grew up in rural Derbyshire, but spent most of her adult life in London, with long intervals in Norfolk and Deal, all inspiring places. She was educated mostly in convent schools; then studied English at Newcastle University and went on to qualify as a solicitor, working for what is now the Crown Prosecution Service, thus learning a bit about murder at second hand. She also worked for the Metropolitan Police.
Years later, writing became her real vocation. She also writes short stories for magazines and radio and is occasionally a contributor to Radio 4, (Front Row, Quote Unquote, Night Waves,) and presenter of Tales from the Stave.
Frances Fyfield is a criminal lawyer, who lives in London and in Deal, by the sea which is her passion. She has won several awards, including the CWA Silver Dagger.
She grew up in rural Derbyshire, but spent most of her adult life in London, with long intervals in Norfolk and Deal, all inspiring places. She was educated mostly in convent schools; then studied English at Newcastle University and went on to qualify as a solicitor, working for what is now the Crown Prosecution Service, thus learning a bit about murder at second hand. She also worked for the Metropolitan Police.
Years later, writing became her real vocation. She also writes short stories for magazines and radio and is occasionally a contributor to Radio 4, (Front Row, Quote Unquote, Night Waves,) and presenter of Tales from the Stave.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
January 22, 2014
Sometimes crime novels are hard to read. I don't always do well with the graphic side of things. Fyfield seems to always keep me reading and turning pages.
This one was a quick but good read. It is the 3rd book in the series and I love the title. Helen is a great character and I love that she fought so hard for justice in this one when everyone was ok with the she died in her sleep line.
Of course I love Helen and Bailey's relationship. It makes these mysteries that much more interesting. Fyfield does a great job with this series. A good read for crime lovers.
July 19, 2012
I had read this a LONG time ago, so it was familiar. About a chemist (pharmacist) who has murdered his wife using chloroform. Helen West is sure of it, but she can't convince Bailey, who actually secretly agrees something is amiss. Good.
September 2, 2022
3.5 stars enjoyed the storyline as an audio
December 30, 2020
As the dustjacket of the original hardback tells us this story is about CHCL3. It is also about sexual taunting during childhood leading to a perverted adult view of sex – though that is more difficult to illustrate on a dustjacket. The story cannot be described as a whodunnit, as the author identifies the perpetrator in the prologue, and it is not really even a why-did-they-do-it, the prologue again gives most of the answer. It is a combination of Crown Prosecution Service (that's government appointed lawyers in the UK) and police procedural written with an insider's knowledge and experience.
The book was first published in 1991 and reading it in 2020 the working class London environment and people could be as distant as an Ealing comedy. It wouldn't have been a surprise to have had one of the humbler characters saying to a police inspector, “Cor blimey, guv'nor. It's a fair cop,” and there are one or two remarks about the Asian community that would probably be edited out today. Having said that it is a very well structured tale of deduction and pursuit, most of the deduction coming from Helen West and the leg-work from Detective Superintendent Geoffrey Bailey and his male cohorts. The chaps are fine when it comes to obeying orders and enforcing discipline yet they do seem to struggle with rational constructs and reasoning.
The characters and relationships are interesting even if there is a strong hint of the lawyer's love of the most distorted mentalities being the product of their upbringing. Pip, the kindly chemist, does away with his wife, and comes close to killing another woman and her young son but by the end this gentleman, who is as loopy as a daffodil, deserves care and a patient ear to listen to the grinding misery of his life story and that of his equally loopy mother. The bomb disposal bit at the end doesn't add much apart from providing an empty set on which the actors can play out their dramatic finales. It has a slow start but it becomes a page turner as it progresses.
The book was first published in 1991 and reading it in 2020 the working class London environment and people could be as distant as an Ealing comedy. It wouldn't have been a surprise to have had one of the humbler characters saying to a police inspector, “Cor blimey, guv'nor. It's a fair cop,” and there are one or two remarks about the Asian community that would probably be edited out today. Having said that it is a very well structured tale of deduction and pursuit, most of the deduction coming from Helen West and the leg-work from Detective Superintendent Geoffrey Bailey and his male cohorts. The chaps are fine when it comes to obeying orders and enforcing discipline yet they do seem to struggle with rational constructs and reasoning.
The characters and relationships are interesting even if there is a strong hint of the lawyer's love of the most distorted mentalities being the product of their upbringing. Pip, the kindly chemist, does away with his wife, and comes close to killing another woman and her young son but by the end this gentleman, who is as loopy as a daffodil, deserves care and a patient ear to listen to the grinding misery of his life story and that of his equally loopy mother. The bomb disposal bit at the end doesn't add much apart from providing an empty set on which the actors can play out their dramatic finales. It has a slow start but it becomes a page turner as it progresses.
July 8, 2021
I had trouble getting into this book from the very beginning. There was so much detail about things I really didn't think were significant. I think with this series you may have to start from the beginning to learn about the characters and feel invested in them. Starting in at the 3rd book of the series, you feel like the author already expects you to know and understand the relationships between the characters. The psychological issues of the murderer were generally interesting but in the end, I felt like I didn't learn much more about the emotional baggage the perpetrator was carrying.
August 9, 2019
A friend was surprised that I had never read Frances Fyfield, and said I should try the Helen West series. My library didn't have the first two in the series, so I got #3. Maybe because I hadn't read the first two, I just couldn't warm to the main two characters. The crime part was okay, but didn't really engage me.
August 11, 2019
It is very tough to write a chase scene or the fishing terror scene in a novel. They have to have enough details to make sense but the descriptions cannot slow the action. This book had a great ultimate scene. Fyfield was a very talented writer.
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April 29, 2021October 2009, Tori R, Fiction
September 2, 2013
The two protaganists, Helen West and Geoffrey Bailey are the best features of this mystery set in London's East End. West is a prosecuting solictor for the Crown who is in a relationship with Geoffrey Bailey, a Detective Chief Superintendent. She smells a rat in reviewing a case file and DCS Bailey respects her judgment. The ex-wife of one of his troubled officers found the body, bringing him into the case if only tangentially. Deep Sleep won the Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger for 1991, a runner up to the Gold, which went to Barbara Vine (aka Ruth Rendell) for King Solomon's Carpet. My main carp is that I was annoyed with Fyfield for having Helen report to an incompetent idiot. Crime is unpleasant enough without that occupational hazard.
February 9, 2015
Was this a mystery? We knew who the killer/insane person was right in the beginning! Reading a couple reviews first as usual, I decided to write down who characters were, thinking there would be too many to remember and keep track of. No need. There were only a few: Helen West, girlfriend of Bailey (Detective Chief Superintendent), who wants to solve this "murder mystery." Duncan Perry, always drunk Detective Constable, ex of Kimberly Perry, and son Tom, deprived of attention. There were a few other people who didn't matter. This story wasn't confusing, just drawn out, boring, and very English.
January 10, 2014
Another chilling mystery by Frances FYFEILD .When Pip Carlton the town pharmacist wife dies in her sleep he is distraught but accepts it
Helen west does not think this is a natural death & sets out with her partner to investigate .This is a true page turner.
Helen west does not think this is a natural death & sets out with her partner to investigate .This is a true page turner.
June 11, 2015
Read as the first book of a trilogy, this was well up to Fyfield's standard of writing - good plot with well-placed hiccups to ensure tension and eventual success. The character of Pip was so nasty though, in an invidious way, that I had to stop reading from time to time.
Want to Read
August 28, 20123 in series
Want to Read
December 24, 2018Synopsis: when the domineering wife of pharmacist Pip Carlton dies, no one suspects him. But amateur sleuth Helen West gets interested.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews