An English Murder

Alison lives in a Cotswold village where nothing ever happens; that's too bad because she is the chief reporter for a local newspaper. Then a double murder is committed just down the road, offering Alison a scoop the likes of which she never dreamt she'd see. Mr. and Mrs. Copwer have been stabbed to death, and their teenage daughter, Genna, is missing. The story is told in alternating chapters through the eyes of various women in the story--Genna, Mrs. Cowper, Alison, and Alison's twisted mother. Although Doughty utilizes many of the conventions of the English village cozy, Doughty is up to something quite different here. Readers may think the story is about the emotionally sick relationship between the dead parents and their disturbed daughter. But all the while, like the mildew that insidiously rots Alison's house, beads of information are being dispensed about the young reporter, who turns out to be more craven than those about whom she reports. A seductive mystery whose ending is stunning in its own quiet way.