Sun 10 Jan 2010
A Review by Maryell Cleary: PAULINE GLEN WINSLOW – The Witch Hill Murder.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews[2] Comments
PAULINE GLEN WINSLOW – The Witch Hill Murder. St. Martin’s Press, hardcover, 1977. UK edition: Collins Crime Club, hc, 1977 (shown). Hardcover reprint: Detective Book Club, 3-in-1 edition, March-April 1978. Trade paperback reprint: St. Martin’s, 1983.
Winslow has created a religious community, Siderea, complete with charismatic founder, Noah Hightower, and his Army of the Stars, mostly populated by young people. It has taken over Witch Hill Manor on the edge of the little town of Daines Barington, and threatens to overrun the village.
The youthful leaders, angry because the town counsellors have refused them permission to erect another building on the manor site, see Town Clerk Richard Brewster as their preeminent enemy and send him threatening letters.
Superintendent Merle Capricorn is called in privately by his old friend, widowed Rose Lavendar, who is engaged to marry Brewster. While he is downplaying her concern, a murder does take place and the Sidereans are the first suspects.
But nothing is as simple as it seems. A number of people, both from the manor and from the town, are involved in some way. So is Brewster’s dead stepmother, Lucrezia, who has left her mark on his stepsister as well as on their home.
This is a satisfying book, with considerable depth in its characters and an interesting display of contrasting environments. My only caveat is that Siderea seems all too obviously a takeoff on Scientology, and the sympathetic treatment of Siderea may or may not sit well with readers.
Bibliographic Data: Ms. Winslow has 15 novels listed in the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin. Of these, six are cases solved by her one series detective, Supt. Capricorn, whom I suspect has been forgotten by all by the most dedicated of detective mystery fans:
CAPRICORN, SGT. (Supt.) MERLIN
o Death of an Angel (n.) Macmillan 1975
o The Brandenburg Hotel (n.) Macmillan 1976
o The Witch Hill Murder (n.) Collins 1977
o Coppergold (n.) Collins 1978
o The Counsellor Heart (n.) Collins 1980
o The Rockefeller Gift (n.) Collins 1982
January 11th, 2010 at 12:22 am
I’ve read THE BRANDENBURG HOTEL and COPPERGOLD of the Capricorn books and enjoyed them, but she also did a book about a Soviet invasion of the US and a subsequent underground revolt called I, MARTHA ADAMS, that was a boring right wing diatribe.
I guess it just shows you can’t always tell about a writer.
January 11th, 2010 at 6:00 pm
I’ve read one of the Capricorn books also, although it made so little impression on me that I’m not sure which one it was.
I think it was THE BRANDENBURG HOTEL. I say that because that particular one came out as one the Murder Ink series published by Dell in the 1970s, #3 in fact.
So I think he was popular enough at the time, but what kind of detective abilities Capricorn had, I couldn’t tell you.
— Steve