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Harbingers of Fear
Crime story featuring Inspector Thanet. Winner of the Silver Dagger Award.
211 pages, Paperback
First published May 28, 1992
About the author
Dorothy Simpson
36 books117 followersDorothy Preece Simpson writes...
"I was born and brought up in South Wales, went to Bridgend Grammar School and then on to Bristol University, where I read modern languages before moving to Kent, the background of the Thanet novels, to teach French at Dartford and Erith Grammar Schools.
Moving to the Maidstone area on my marriage, I then spent several years devoting myself to bringing up my three children. During that time I trained as a marriage guidance counsellor and subsequently worked as one for thirteen years.
You may think that marriage guidance counsellor to crime writer is rather a peculiar career move, but although I didn’t realise it at the time, of course, the training I received was the best possible preparation for writing detective novels. Murder mysteries are all about relationships which go disastrously wrong and the insights I gained into what makes people tick, into their interaction and motivations, have been absolutely invaluable to DI Thanet, my series character, as have the interviewing skills I acquired during my years of counselling.
I began to write after a long illness in 1975. The success of my first book, a suspense novel called HARBINGERS OF FEAR, gave me sufficient impetus to carry me through the two rejections which followed - very disheartening at the time, but invaluable in retrospect.
It was during this period that I realised that the crime novel is of such diversity that it offers enormous scope to the writer and decided to attempt to lay the foundation for a series of detective novels in my next book. This was the THE NIGHT SHE DIED." This was the first in a 15 book series starring Detective Inspector Luke Thanet. Severe repetitive stress injury caused her to stop writing in 2000.
She is an award winning author, receiving a Silver Dagger Award from the Crime Writers' Association of Great Britain.
"I was born and brought up in South Wales, went to Bridgend Grammar School and then on to Bristol University, where I read modern languages before moving to Kent, the background of the Thanet novels, to teach French at Dartford and Erith Grammar Schools.
Moving to the Maidstone area on my marriage, I then spent several years devoting myself to bringing up my three children. During that time I trained as a marriage guidance counsellor and subsequently worked as one for thirteen years.
You may think that marriage guidance counsellor to crime writer is rather a peculiar career move, but although I didn’t realise it at the time, of course, the training I received was the best possible preparation for writing detective novels. Murder mysteries are all about relationships which go disastrously wrong and the insights I gained into what makes people tick, into their interaction and motivations, have been absolutely invaluable to DI Thanet, my series character, as have the interviewing skills I acquired during my years of counselling.
I began to write after a long illness in 1975. The success of my first book, a suspense novel called HARBINGERS OF FEAR, gave me sufficient impetus to carry me through the two rejections which followed - very disheartening at the time, but invaluable in retrospect.
It was during this period that I realised that the crime novel is of such diversity that it offers enormous scope to the writer and decided to attempt to lay the foundation for a series of detective novels in my next book. This was the THE NIGHT SHE DIED." This was the first in a 15 book series starring Detective Inspector Luke Thanet. Severe repetitive stress injury caused her to stop writing in 2000.
She is an award winning author, receiving a Silver Dagger Award from the Crime Writers' Association of Great Britain.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 11, 2023
2.75 I struggled with this one at times. A lot of the same repeated scenes and a very slow pace. But the reveal at the end was solid and I did like the main protagonist. A heavily pregnant woman is being stalked by a menacing stranger. When she starts to receive notes threatening her unborn child's safety, she turns to a friend at her pre- natal class. But what are her intentions and will Sarah be safe with her around.
July 21, 2019
Sarah finds notes of doom of a Biblical nature in her purse & her belongings, not knowing who could have put them there. She's very frightened as the notes become more threatening. Then she notices that someone is watching her. Her husband, Alec believes her at first but then begins to doubt her. Sarah turns to her friend, Mary, and gets the same response, leading to the first argument the two friends have ever had.
Alec goes to see Sarah's obstetrician who thinks that she is doing these things herself but is not aware that she is.
The situation escalates...
Alec goes to see Sarah's obstetrician who thinks that she is doing these things herself but is not aware that she is.
The situation escalates...
July 25, 2014
The popular mystery novelist Dorothy Simpson makes quite a good fist of this, her first novel.
September 2, 2016
Very good good book. Suspenseful to the last few pages.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews