Stone Dead

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Instantly gripping and wonderfully perplexing, this English procedural begins with what looks like an open-and-shut case of murder: photographer Peter Foster has shot and killed someone in the bedroom of the well-appointed cottage he shares with his lover, top model Lisa Remington. In a well on the property, the police discover a corpse with its face blown away. Foster says it is Lisa's abusive ex-husband, whose body he discovered in the house shortly after Lisa left to go on location. Lisa's ex turns up alive, however, while Lisa herself is missing. The case becomes increasingly complex as Detective Chief Inspector Neil Paget, always methodical, dour and shrewd, and Sergeant John Tregalles, ever upbeat and capable, tap into the greatest resource a country policeman could utilize: local gossip. Smith, who introduced Paget and company in Fatal Flat (1996), features a broad spectrum of both London and rural citizens: stylish models; clannish farmers; malevolent parents; inept constables. There's also a keenly rendered lineup of extremely clever suspects: the jealous ex-husband; a protective father; a rejected suitor. A neatly integrated subplot about a child stalker adds another dimension. There even seems to be glimmerings of a romance for the stoic Paget. This village mystery is beguiling from beginning to end. (Mar.)

Library Journal

This cleverly plotted British police procedural from the author of Fatal Flaw (St. Martin's, 1996) proves once again that appearance and reality often collide. The opening scene would indicate that Peter Foster, a freelance photographer of some note, has murdered his girlfriend, a somewhat successful model. As subsequent discoveries by police peel away the layers of truth, however, the identities of both corpse and perpetrator change. Estranged spouses, secret lovers, a village "idiot," and the squirming photographer all hold crucial keys. A very tidy plot, tight focus, and the added benefit of village charm all recommend this for most collections.

Marilyn Stasio

Here's something for what ails you: a village mystery with the restorative powers of a nice cup of tea....Once the stage is set for this whodunit, Smith moves the genre furniture around with such prodigious skill that the whole room spins. -- Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review

Kirkus Reviews

Photographer Peter Foster, enraged at finding his live-in model Lisa Remington in bed with her estranged husband, fashion designer Sean Merrick, unloaded a twelve-gauge shotgun at her and dumped her body into a well on the Bracken Cottage grounds. But the crime never would have been discovered if a pair of burglars hadn't inadvertently led Chief Inspector Neil Paget's men to the well and its grisly contents. Now that he's got the case, though, Paget soon finds that nothing about it is as it seems. The body in Foster's well isn't Lisa Remington; it isn't even, despite Foster's identification, Sean Merrick. So instead of arresting Foster for a murder he concealed, understated Paget digs deeper into the mystery of the murdered man's identity, even while Sgt. John Tregalles wonders where Lisa Remington has got to; what Crazy Eric Tyson, Foster's neighbor, saw that's made him so agitated; and who might be stalking Tregalles's own school-age daughter Olivia, calling her "Wendy." As the intimate clutch of suspects accuse one another and excuse themselves, Paget and his squad (Fatal Flaw, 1996) patiently sift through lie after lie till the killer's run out of stories. Sterling goods for lovers of the British procedural, with a snakelike mystery that's still twisting and turning minutes before the final fadeout.