The Cradle in the Grave (Zailer & Waterhouse Series #5)

by Sophie Hannah

Overview

“A perfectly executed psychological thriller” (The Guardian) from the internationally bestselling author of The Wrong Mother and The Other Woman’s House

Television producer Fliss Benson is surprised to discover that her superstar boss, Laurie Nattrass, is stepping down from his post. She’s even more surprised that he asks her to take over his documentary about crib-death mothers wrongly accused of murder. Thanks to Laurie’s advocacy, three women are now free, while the doctor who testified against them is under investigation for misconduct. Then one of the mothers is found dead. In her pocket is a card with sixteen numbers on it, arranged in four rows of four- exactly like the anonymous card Fliss has just received in the mail.

The fifth book in Sophie Hannah’s beloved Zailer and Waterhouse series, The Cradle in the Grave combines the puzzle of a Golden Age mystery with a masterful tale of psychological suspense that Tana French and Laura Lippman fans will love.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780143119944
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/30/2011
Series:	Zailer & Waterhouse Series , #5
Pages:	480
Sales rank:	967,450
Product dimensions:	5.29(w) x 8.01(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Sophie Hannah is the bestselling author of eight novels and is also an award-winning poet. Her new Hercule Poirot mystery, the first to be sanctioned by the Agatha Christie estate, will be published in September 2014. She lives in Cambridge, England, with her husband and two children, and is a Fellow Commoner at Lucy Cavendish College.

Editorial Reviews

Hannah focuses on the dangerous gray area between guilt and innocence in her provocative fifth mystery featuring Det. Sgt. Charlotte "Charlie" Zailer and Det. Constable Simon Waterhouse of the Culver Valley police (after The Dead Lie Down). When TV producer Felicity "Fliss" Benson receives an anonymous card with 16 numbers on it, she's puzzled, but she soon has bigger worries. Her boss, famed investigative journalist Laurence "Laurie" Nattrass, suddenly puts her in charge of his BBC documentary on the "miscarriages of justice" surrounding women falsely accused of murdering their children. One of the documentary subjects is Helen Yardley, convicted of killing her two infant sons, whom she claimed were victims of crib death. When Helen, whose conviction was later overturned, is murdered and an identical number card is found on her body, Fliss fears the killer is targeting those connected to the documentary. Hannah merges her myriad story lines with practiced ease. 10-city author tour. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Within the span of a week, a crazed killer has gripped London by attacking mothers who have been convicted—and acquitted—in a sensationalist rash of crib death cases. One of the victims is known for her heartrending memoir and is also the centerpiece of an in-progress TV documentary. A puzzle card is left on her body; the same card is mailed to the TV producers. Fliss Benson, the producer in charge of the project, becomes pivotal to the case, running somewhat parallel with the intrepid detectives Simon Waterhouse, Sam Kombothekra, and Charlie Zailer (The Dead Lie Down). VERDICT Hannah's frenetically paced psychological thriller is a searing indictment of our judicial system and the media's role in fueling collective hysteria. Known for combining her police procedurals with woman-in-peril suspense novels, she again succeeds in scaring our shoes off. Readalikes to consider would be Nicci French and Joy Fielding.

Library Journal

What happens after the jury gets it wrong. Or does it?

For reasons he declines to illuminate, Laurie Nattrass suddenly leaves Binary Star Productions and hands over the documentary he's been working on for several years to Fliss Benson, who would rather not be saddled with it. The feature focuses on the misguided testimony of pathologist Judith Duffy, which sent two woman to prison for murdering their children, and Laurie's investigation, which got the doctor stricken from the medical rolls, set the mothers free, and led to the acquittal of another mother up on the same charges. Not only does the documentary bring up a tragedy within Fliss' family, but two of the mothers are now having doubts about participating. Then one of them is attacked, another is murdered, and someone leaves cards with 16 identical numbers arranged in four rows of four at the crime scenes and sends one to Fliss. DI Gil Proust, DC Simon Waterhouse and his partner Charlie Zailer (The Truth-Teller's Lie,2010, etc.) step in to determine whether a vigilante has decided that the juries were right the first time around in determining that these were not unassisted crib deaths, a conclusion shared by the husband of one of the mothers. A tell-all memoir holds clues, but before they can be deciphered, more complications arise.

Hannah, who understands every neurotic twitch, blemish and lie a person is capable of, is just the thing for those who followed the Casey Anthony murder trial.

Kirkus Reviews