Guy comes home and finds his wife dead, assumes his daughter did it, and so rubs blood all over himself and calls the police to confess to the crime. The lawyer he hires, and one of the police officers, don't think he did it, but he won't go back on his story. Then the daughter confesses. Then it turns out maybe she didn't do it after all...

Actually I suppose given the above synopsis there is the making of a reasonable story here. But it was pretty toshy. This was a bit like a Famous Five story, with the plucky lawyer and maverick cop sorting out the villains themselves while the rest of the police force think they've got the right man. The writing was by turns breathless and petulant (or maybe it was just the way it was read aloud), so that the whole thing seemed a bit like a jolly adventure rather than a matter of life and death.

At the end, when she confronted the villain, I was so bored my attention wandered so I still don't know exactly who/why dunnit but I couldn't be bothered to rewind to hear it again. And I think the author was getting fed up too; the writing got a bit lazy towards the end, with the killer's gun "clattering to the concrete floor with a clatter".

Not worth the bother really.

Completed : 04-Jan-2006 (audiobook)