Fell Purpose (Bill Slider Series #12)

by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Overview

Zellah Wilding - a straight-A student from a strict churchgoing family - lies dead on Wormwood Scrubs. What was this good girl doing out there, dressed to kill, when she was supposed to be at a sleepover with schoolfriends? Who took her to the Bank Holiday fair? And who followed her afterwards? A secret boyfriend from a run-down estate, a recently-released serial rapist... or could the answer lie closer to home?

It seems the more Bill Slider investigates, the less he understands this very secret girl...

"Readers will find themselves gripped from the first page to the last by the complex characters, keep-'em-guessing plot, surprising twists, and - most of all - by the multifaceted Slider." - Booklist on Fell Purpose

"A sly wit that leavens this richly detailed mystery is a bonus" - Publishers Weekly on Blood Never Dies

"Only a die-hard misanthrope would disdain a chance to spend time with Slider" - Kirkus Starred Review for Body Line

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781495449635
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	02/20/2014
Series:	Bill Slider Series , #12
Pages:	268
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles was born and educated in Shepherd's Bush, London and had a variety of jobs in the commercial world, starting as a junior cashier at Woolworth's and working her way down to Pensions Officer at the BBC. She won the Young Writer's Award in 1973, and became a full-time writer in 1978. She is the author of sixty successful novels to date, including the twenty-five volumes of the Morland Dynasty series.
www.billslider.com

Editorial Reviews

Harrod-Eagles’s 12th Bill Slider mystery (after 2008’s Game Over) offers a familiar plot. When the strangled corpse of nearly 17-year-old Zellah Wilding, a star student at St. Margaret’s, an excellent all-girls church school, is discovered in a London park near her home, Slider and his team investigate. The suspects, all stock characters, include Wilding’s overprotective and repressed father; Ronnie Oates (aka the Acton Strangler), who was just released from prison after a series of convictions for indecent assault; and Wilding’s secret boyfriend. Few will be shocked when it turns out the victim led a less than exemplary life. The punning or joking chapter titles (“Salmon-Chanted Evening,” “You Must Remember This; A Kiss Is Still a Coordinated Interpersonal Labial Spasm”) may appeal to some, but others will find the humor at odds with the grim reality of police homicide work. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

Harrod-Eagles' Bill Slider series is one of the better British police-procedural series around, perfectly capturing the conflicts, dangers, frustrations, and satisfactions of modern police work and showcasing Slider as a captivating hero, with his appealing mix of ruthlessness, common sense, and empathy. His latest case involves the brutal murder of 16-year-old Zellah Wilding, whose strangled body is found, dressed in tart's clothing, near Wormwood Scrubs prison. But Zellah was a bright, gifted student, a talented artist and musician respected by her teachers and peers, so how did she come to such a brutal and ignominious end? As Slider investigates, he learns that Zellah's life was full of conflicts and secrets, from her strict father, who refused to let her date, to her "posh" friends, to the leather-jacketed secret boyfriend who claimed Zellah was a sex maniac. Readers will find themselves gripped from first page to last by the complex characters, keep-'em-guessing plot, surprising twists, and-most of all-by the multifaceted Slider.

Booklist

Daddy's perfectly behaved little darling gets strangled. Zellah Wilding, just shy of 17, always did exactly as she was told. She was sweet, she was smart, she never misbehaved-or so her daddy thought until she turned up togged out like a tart, her lights turned permanently off by a pair of tights. Finding out who strangled her falls to DI Bill Slider of the Metropolitan Police, Shepherd's Bush, West London. Slider learns from her schoolmates at St. Margaret's that Zellah not only disobeyed her controlling father, but had recently dropped a declasse young beau in favor of someone else she refused to name. Matters heat up when the press latches onto a possible perp: Ronnie Oates, the so-called Acton Strangler, whose MO has been to rape his victims, then garrote with them tights. But Slider has other ideas, particularly after the autopsy shows that Zellah was eight weeks pregnant. Her father blames her mother for being too lenient, her mother blames her father for not letting the girl grow up, and the one responsible feigns an indifference Slider ultimately discredits, although most readers will have reached the same conclusion early on. Though new father Slider (Game Over, 2008, etc.) has worked on more subtle, interesting cases than this so-so exercise, it's charming to see him so daffy about his young son.

Kirkus Reviews