Book description
The blast rocked the entire block of flats, awaking Detective Inspector
Ben Jurnet from a sleep of exhaustion. Bells, sirens, whoopers - sounds
that betokened rescue, the arrival of fire engines, ambulances, the
police his brothers - reached him on the morning air. Everything under
control at least. Or so he thought. Outside, near the wrecked Rover, a
shoe lay on the ground. In it, a foot with an ankle attached. Miriam's
shoe. Miriam's ankle. Was it all a ghastly mistake, a trap set for the
police generally, or for Jurnet in particular, that had by dreadful
chance caught the wrong victim? Had political murder arrived in sedate
and sensible Angleby, that jewel of East Anglia? Why, in heaven's name,
Miriam? Jurnet's search for the answer to that question proves to be a
journey into his very heart and soul. A Beautiful Death combines all the
elements of a page-turning thriller with a moving statement about love,
bereavement, grief and renewal. 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.
