A Choice Of Victims

by J.F. Straker

Elizabeth Doyle, a respected if rather unpopular member of a small village community, mysteriously disappears, along with her car, while distributing food for the Meals on Wheels service. There follows an investigation into a murder for which the initial evidence seems to suggest the guilt of two London youths. However, it gradually becomes apparent to the police that their enquiries should be centred on the community rather than on outsiders...

344 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elizabeth Doyle, is killed while doing the local community a service - meals on wheels. Who had a motive, was it a accident, who benefits from her death.
An interesting enough read.

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very prototypical Endeavor/Lume press novel. Which is to say older, British, rather quaint in its way though (whew) not a cozy. Sometimes, I just like reading these books because I now almost exactly what to expect and there’s something charming about the Btitishness of it all and the formality of their grammar.
To be fair, sometimes they are dated duds, but this one was just right. So quaint, there’s a proper English village…and a proper English murder (politely done off-screen), which a very nice detective sets off to investigate. And sure enough, the villagers are not all nice, some are hiding pitchforks i.e. secrets. And so the novel proceeds.
Reasonably entertaining, decently plot twisted, with an almost unpredictable ending. Plus, such a quick read.

[P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just OK. It's hard to buy into the ending. Nice character development and writing.

[Philip Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A who did it done well. And possibly relatable to anyone who has or had a step parent who was less than kindly disposed to the step child. For me it was as I first suspected and then had my doubts, perhaps, maybe, then I’m not sure. A well concocted mystery with an interesting cast of characters. Yet again one of my pet peeves the use of British slang and meaningless abbreviations, although it is likely not slang to those in the UK. Otherwise a great one night read.

[Dvdlcs · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting whodunit, however while reading I couldn't really put a date in my mind to when the story might have been set.

From references to some specific models of car, plus a couple of transactions in decimal currency, the story must have taken place no earlier than the mid-1970s. However, without these references the cast of characters could easily have been from the 1950s, or even earlier.