Alibi in Time

Inspector Rudd #7

by June Thomson

Constable & Co., Ltd., (1980). Fine in fine dust jacket.. First printing. The author's seventh mystery novel, featuring the quiet, but perceptive Inspector Peter Finch, who is investigating the murder of a writer disguised as a hit-and-run accident. 220 pp.

Genres: Mystery, British Literature

187 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

June Thomson, a former teacher, has published 24 crime novels, 18 of which feature Detective Chief Inspector Jack Finch and his sergeant, Tom Boyce. She has also written six short story collections of Sherlock Holmes pastiches. Her books have been translated into many languages. She lives in St Albans in Hertfordshire.

Reviews

[Kate]

"Lying among the wet leaves along the shoulder of a country road was the broken body of Patrick Vaughan, a writer whose malice had made him a long list of enemies. Detective Inspector Rudd felt the cold rain drip down inside his collar. He had resented being called out in the middle of a nasty night for a possible hit-and-run accident ... until his investigative instincts convinced him this was murder. Rudd already knew the means of death. He would soon know who had the opportunity. But what mattered in this case was motive."
~~back cover

This was an earlier book in the series, and I felt that it was more "surface" than the others. Perhaps it was the nature of the case: most things pointing to a hit-and-run accident but a few niggling details suggesting otherwise, which left Rudd trying to investigate but handicapped by the outward appearance of an accidental death. Well, it comes right in the end of course, but the muddling through seemed a bit "off."

[Fiona]

Intriguing read

[Chana]

Too much talk, too little action. And I suspected the murderer from the beginning. It could have been better with less talking about how people were feeling and what could be expected from what type of personality. The setting was nice, the characters pleasant (for the most part), it just got boring because nothing ever happened beyond the action of the first few pages.

[Cindy]

So very, very slow. Unpleasant writer Patrick Vaughan is found dead from a hit and run. After a lot of talk, a lot of detail about what the police are doing and thinking and eating, we find out he was murdered by









*SPOILER ALERT*
the doctor who found the body. Because, well, he had it coming.

[Callee]

3.5 stars