The Glass Ceiling

Notting Hill Mystery #3

by Anabel Donald

Hired by an anonymous client who sends her the names of four women and implores that she take a part in keeping the client from killing them, Alex Tanner and her eccentric assistant Nick begin a race against time.

Genres: Crime

217 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1995

About the author

Anabel has been writing fiction since 1982 when her first novel, Hannah at Thirty-five, was published to great critical acclaim.

In her thirty-six-year teaching career she has taught adolescent girls in private boarding schools, a comprehensive and an American university. Most recently, she has written the five Alex Tanner crime novels in the Notting Hill series.

Reviews

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a middling story, a fast read, and a good procedural. I really like Alex Tanner. She's competent, and efficient, and she gets things done without making a fuss. Sometimes it's incredibly relaxing to read about someone who is good at their job, confident in themselves, and still doesn't fit all the pieces together quite quickly enough. And I find her foibles - dislike of being 'manipulated', whether maliciously or good-naturedly, her fierce love for her flat and her things - really endearing.

Donald is good at capturing people's personalities without making them caricatures, and she makes Alex a good judge of character, which gives us enjoyable insights into the banality of human nature as well as the oddity of it. The mystery isn't mysterious, we aren't subjected to unlikely twists or impossible scenarios, just good detecting following through to a logical conclusion with a believable twist. The stories are part-Golden Age detective fiction, part-modern crime procedural, with - for me - the best elements of both. Thoroughly enjoyable and engaging, even if the story wasn't the strongest.

[Windy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as compelling as the earlier ones in this series and quite a convoluted plot.