What do you think?
Rate this book
Inspector Quantrill #5
Fate Worse Than Death (Inspector Quantrill, 5)
Fate Worse Than Death opens―on the sunniest day in half a century―with the news that someone has stolen Beryl Websdell's garden gnome. However, things get less sunny very quickly, as it becomes apparent that Beryl's daughter has also disappeared. Called in to handle the case, Inspector Quantrill and his deputy can't shake their conviction that the villagers are engaged in an unusually chatty conspiracy of silence, and that something rather ugly is lurking in the petunias.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
About the author
Sheila Radley
24 books3 followersSheila Mary Robinson was born and brought up in rural Northamptonshire, one of the fortunate means-tested generation whose further education was free. She went from her village school via high school to London University, where she read history.
She served for nine years as an education officer in the Women’s Royal Air Force, then worked variously as a teacher, a clerk in a shoe factory, a civil servant and in advertising. In the 1960s she opted out of conventional work and joined her partner in running a Norfolk village store and post office, where she began writing fiction in her spare time. Her first books, written as Hester Rowan, were three romantic novels; she then took to crime, and wrote 10 crime novels as Sheila Radley.
She served for nine years as an education officer in the Women’s Royal Air Force, then worked variously as a teacher, a clerk in a shoe factory, a civil servant and in advertising. In the 1960s she opted out of conventional work and joined her partner in running a Norfolk village store and post office, where she began writing fiction in her spare time. Her first books, written as Hester Rowan, were three romantic novels; she then took to crime, and wrote 10 crime novels as Sheila Radley.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 8, 2018
"Sandra Websdell is missing. Somebody has kidnapped her.
"The reader shares Dandra's increasing panic and terror in Sheila Radley's Fate Worse Than Death, a stunning new novel of psychological suspense by a writer whom the critics have compared favorably to P. D. James and Ruth Rendell.
"Sandra will survive only if she can trick her captor into letting her go. If she's not freed soon, Sandra knows she will die. She's ill, she can hardly breathe. Her skin is clammy, and she's shivering despite the hottest August temperatures for half a century. Sandra's too young to die. This was to have been her wedding day.
"And she's not even very much missed. Her mother assumes she decided to cancel the wedding and ran off for a bit of solitude. But Sandra's mother begins to doubt her happy theory when a statue disappears from her garden and turns up smashed in a roadside ditch. Is the statue a clue to Sandra's fate, or did someone just steal it as a cruel prank?
"Detective Inspector Douglas Quantrill must find the answers, while worrying about his own daughter's fate. Alison has not been kidnapped, but she seems to be captive to the dubious harms of Inspector Martin Tait, Quantrill's former assistant. Tait may be a fine detective, but he's short on compassion. As husband material, Quantrill ranks him low.
"Sheila Radley once again combines vivid characterizations with a stark panorama of the Suffolk countryside and it's people, transporting her readers to a strange, dangerous, and compelling world ..."
~~front & back flaps
A very strange book indeed. Without giving anything away, I still don't understand why the kidnapper thought his actions would bring him the result he wanted. But it was quite entertaining to watch Martin Tait step on his own ... and display his baser side in all its glory and greed. Our Alison has had a lucky escape!
Ms. Radley is indeed on a par with P. D. James and Ruth Rendell, but I would rank her above them -- her books are less bloody and violent, less based on psychological terror. If you like either of those authors, you'll be delighted to discover Ms. Radley!
"The reader shares Dandra's increasing panic and terror in Sheila Radley's Fate Worse Than Death, a stunning new novel of psychological suspense by a writer whom the critics have compared favorably to P. D. James and Ruth Rendell.
"Sandra will survive only if she can trick her captor into letting her go. If she's not freed soon, Sandra knows she will die. She's ill, she can hardly breathe. Her skin is clammy, and she's shivering despite the hottest August temperatures for half a century. Sandra's too young to die. This was to have been her wedding day.
"And she's not even very much missed. Her mother assumes she decided to cancel the wedding and ran off for a bit of solitude. But Sandra's mother begins to doubt her happy theory when a statue disappears from her garden and turns up smashed in a roadside ditch. Is the statue a clue to Sandra's fate, or did someone just steal it as a cruel prank?
"Detective Inspector Douglas Quantrill must find the answers, while worrying about his own daughter's fate. Alison has not been kidnapped, but she seems to be captive to the dubious harms of Inspector Martin Tait, Quantrill's former assistant. Tait may be a fine detective, but he's short on compassion. As husband material, Quantrill ranks him low.
"Sheila Radley once again combines vivid characterizations with a stark panorama of the Suffolk countryside and it's people, transporting her readers to a strange, dangerous, and compelling world ..."
~~front & back flaps
A very strange book indeed. Without giving anything away, I still don't understand why the kidnapper thought his actions would bring him the result he wanted. But it was quite entertaining to watch Martin Tait step on his own ... and display his baser side in all its glory and greed. Our Alison has had a lucky escape!
Ms. Radley is indeed on a par with P. D. James and Ruth Rendell, but I would rank her above them -- her books are less bloody and violent, less based on psychological terror. If you like either of those authors, you'll be delighted to discover Ms. Radley!
October 9, 2021
This installment's beginning is focused on Martin Tait who is visiting his aunt. A girl has disappeared in the village the aunt live in, but nobody is worried because they think she only got cold feet and ran away from an unsuitable marriage until events makes people realize that something went wrong.
A good mystery, I didn't see a major twist coming... I am so used to similar stories turning out the same way that I was expecting this here and it didn't go that route. Martin is so easy to hate, at some point I thought he has no saving grace and then he surprises you (and himself), but still I do not like the kind of man he is and I'm really hoping better for a certain inspector's daughter (first chapter so no spoiler). The culprit is easy to guess, but the red herrings are hard to ignore and very good (though disturbing too and probably where the title of the book comes in play for me).
This series had little slump at book two but the rest are excellent even when the Inspector shows up a little late to the party (about half way through). Very good entry to this series.
A good mystery, I didn't see a major twist coming... I am so used to similar stories turning out the same way that I was expecting this here and it didn't go that route. Martin is so easy to hate, at some point I thought he has no saving grace and then he surprises you (and himself), but still I do not like the kind of man he is and I'm really hoping better for a certain inspector's daughter (first chapter so no spoiler). The culprit is easy to guess, but the red herrings are hard to ignore and very good (though disturbing too and probably where the title of the book comes in play for me).
This series had little slump at book two but the rest are excellent even when the Inspector shows up a little late to the party (about half way through). Very good entry to this series.
January 9, 2013
Beryl Websdell’s garden gnome has been kidnapped and she has received a ransom note demanding jelly beans as payment and the gnome will be returned to her. At the same time her daughter disappears, three days before her wedding. Has her daughter been kidnapped as well? Beryl doesn’t believe so and the police are puzzled but not unduly worried.
DI Tait is getting on well with both his flying and his courtship of DCI Quantrill’s daughter, Alison. He is currently on leave and staying with his wealthy Aunt Con from whom he has expectations. When he and his aunt find the body of the missing girl Tait finds himself torn between his private life and his profession.
This is a well written crime story with some fascinating insights into the motivations of some of the series characters. I usually read more than one book at a time but this kept me reading over two evenings because I had to know what the outcome was. I liked the descriptions of village life and the way the suspense was built up. The clues are there for the observant reader but it will take an observant reader to spot them.
I thought the tensions between the police officers was very well done. DCI Quantrill was less prominent in this story but it was interesting to see more of DI Tait. I found this story compelling reading and I think anyone who enjoys crime novels with a strong puzzle element will find it enjoyable too. The characters are all too believable and three dimensional. I recommend this well written story as well as the rest of the novels in the series which are equally good.
DI Tait is getting on well with both his flying and his courtship of DCI Quantrill’s daughter, Alison. He is currently on leave and staying with his wealthy Aunt Con from whom he has expectations. When he and his aunt find the body of the missing girl Tait finds himself torn between his private life and his profession.
This is a well written crime story with some fascinating insights into the motivations of some of the series characters. I usually read more than one book at a time but this kept me reading over two evenings because I had to know what the outcome was. I liked the descriptions of village life and the way the suspense was built up. The clues are there for the observant reader but it will take an observant reader to spot them.
I thought the tensions between the police officers was very well done. DCI Quantrill was less prominent in this story but it was interesting to see more of DI Tait. I found this story compelling reading and I think anyone who enjoys crime novels with a strong puzzle element will find it enjoyable too. The characters are all too believable and three dimensional. I recommend this well written story as well as the rest of the novels in the series which are equally good.
July 6, 2013
Fate Worse Than Death is as easy-read mystery from little-known author Sheila Radley. The story concerns the abduction and death of a village girl in a close-knit east Anglian community. The police, led by recurring characters Quantrill and Tait, struggle to find a motive for the apparently senseless crime. Tait's personal life forms one of the sub-plots as he tries to come to terms with his ageing aunt's failing health, as well as perusing Quantrill's daughter as a potential wife.
The central mystery is a bit slight and the police eventually identify the culprit after, what seemed to me, running out of suspects. And There's some fairly obvious obfuscation in the form of local yokels behaving in a generally belligerent and uncooperative way.
Still, it was quite well written stylistically, even if the plot was a bit clunky. The characters, while not particularly likeable, we're well drawn and believable. Radley seems to have written only a few books during the1980s, and this one looks like it was the last in a short series.
© Koplowitz 2013
The central mystery is a bit slight and the police eventually identify the culprit after, what seemed to me, running out of suspects. And There's some fairly obvious obfuscation in the form of local yokels behaving in a generally belligerent and uncooperative way.
Still, it was quite well written stylistically, even if the plot was a bit clunky. The characters, while not particularly likeable, we're well drawn and believable. Radley seems to have written only a few books during the1980s, and this one looks like it was the last in a short series.
© Koplowitz 2013
August 6, 2008
I just started reading this book. I recently discovered the author Sheila Radley. As a fan of British police procedurals I am happy to have discovered another author. This will be the third Radley book I've read. It alternates between a kidnapped young woman and the village and police story, a different approach than the other two books in this series featuring Detective Inspector Douglas Quantrill and Inspector Martin Tait.
January 31, 2010
An underrated author. I'll leave to a Brit to say whether the depiction of ye olde country village is accurate. The characterizations of the actors are excellent.
June 21, 2010
the fifth Inspector Quantrill Mystery reissued by Felony and Mayhem Press.....liked the whole series
April 22, 2013
It was entertaining but not absolutely wonderful.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews