Brutal Terminations is a new mystery novel from Cherith Baldry.
A team of workmen who are digging the foundations for an extension to the library at St Clement's College, Oxford, are shocked when they stumble upon the skeletal remains of a woman.
Gawaine St Clair is an amateur detective (who seems to have this role thrust upon him, somewhat unwillingly, it has to be said) is a former undergraduate at the college.
When he arrives in Oxford he is told that the remains were buried some three decades before, and that the woman had been with child at the time of her death.
A don, Richard Templeman is reported to be missing. His corpse is subsequently discovered.
Naturally Gawaine's suspicions fall on men who were at the college 30 years before.
With the death of the don, he believes that only those men who are still at the college 30 years later could have been responsible for the death of the woman and of Templeman.
These include Stephen Verner, Father Gerard, the chaplain, the creepy head porter, Heatherington, the bursar Colonel Morrison and Dr Porteous.
There's a letter that gives Gawaine a clue as to the potential identity of the murder victim and the identity of her lover.
Eventually, he is pretty certain that he has found the identity of the killer. But there are two things. Firstly, is he correct in his deduction? Secondly, will he be able to live to tell his tale?
This is a remarkably well-written mystery novel and I am glad to have found another mystery voice in Cherith Baldry. Another author for me to keep an eye out for!
It's published by Matador at £8.99.
