Book description
A blasphemous inscription spray-pointed on its ancient, hallowed walls
was the first sign that something was amiss at Angleby Cathedral. Then
came the body in Little St. Ulf’s tomb: a murdered and mutilated
choirboy, his wounds forming the Star of David, in grotesque parody of
Little St. Ulf’s himself, a child murdered 840 years before. Already the
malignant strains of anti-Semitism are stirring in the tiny town of
Angleby. “Ritual murder!” trumpets the rabble, into the media maw.
Pressed by explosive circumstance, Detective Inspector Ben Jurnet first
looks to the victim for answers: a quiet boy with a paper route and
secrets to burn. Even the cathedral’s august Dean seems more concerned
with the holy sanctuary than with the devil’s work below. And the
choirmaster himself does not believe in the reality of evil. But within
these sacred precincts, evil has indeed found purchase. And Jurnet must
act quickly-before murder stains the cathedral again . . .
Winner of the CWA Silver Dagger Award in 1982, Ritual Murder
is S T Haymon at her best.
‘Shrewdly psychological, elegantly layered, yet unflagging in suspense
and wit: a quiet triumph.’ Kirkus Reviews
‘Ritual Murder is a brilliantly crafted novel.’ Washington Post Book World
‘The author doesn’t put a foot wrong . . . Solidly put together and
elegantly written, at the same time it achieves - without pomposity - a
degree of seriousness beyond most examples of the genre.’ Times
Literary Supplement
"One of the purest lyric voices in the mystery field"
New York Times Book Review
Sylvia Theresa Haymon was born in Norwich, and is best known for her
eight crime fiction novels featuring the character Inspector Ben Jurnet.
Haymon also wrote two non-fiction books for children, as well as two
memoirs of her childhood in East Anglia.
The Ben Jurnet series enjoyed success in both the UK and the US during
Haymon’s lifetime: Ritual Murder
(1982) won the prestigious CWA Silver Dagger Award from the Crime
Writers' Association. Stately Homicide
(1984), a skilful variation on the country house mystery, was praised
by the New York Times
as a 'brilliantly crafted novel of detection...stylish serious
fiction', and favourably compared to the work of Dorothy L. Sayers.
