Published
by Headline, 5 July 2001. ISBN: 978-0-7472-7472-6 (HB)
Having been evicted from her house sitting by the odious Bertie and
Charlie, Fran Varady is now again homeless, or as her friend Ganesh puts it,
dossing in his Uncle Haris’s garage, which is situated at the rear of the newsagests
he runs. Which doesn’t sound too bad until one considers the petrol smell, the
stacks of old discarded boxes, the rusty bike, and no windows. But things could
be worse, it depends on your point of view.
However, when
Ganesh reports on a bloke asking after her in the shop, Fran is convinced it is
the DSS checking up on her, but it turns out to be one Clarence Duke private
investigator hired by Frann’s mother, who had walked out on her when Fran was
just seven. Having spent the last
fourteen years trying to forget her mother’s existence Fran is wary of Clarence’s
message that her mother wants to see her, now she is dying.
Memories
flood back as Fran recalls her mother, and with curiosity uppermost she agrees
to visit her mother at a hospice in Egham.
Yet more shocks are in store for Fran as her mother asks her to find her
sister, the child that she gave up, virtually at birth. And so, against her
better judgment Fran agrees, and embarks on a journey to find the sister she
has never known.
This is the
fourth book in the Fran Varady series and in this book the mystery is closer to
home, as Fran confronts her own background. But that is over simplifying it, as
there are of course others involved. Where had her sister been all these years?
What has her life been like? Does she know she is adopted? What of her adopted
parents? And why is Clarence Duke following Fran? Then Clarence Duke turns up
dead.
Once again Ann
Granger weaves a fascinating tale, including all the characters I have come to
enjoy. Gan is as ever great support to Fran and although often cross with her,
always because he sees so clearly that she is as usual on a spiral to destruction.
I love Uncle
Hari, who is convinced that if space debris is going to fall from the sky, it will
surely fall through his roof.
A marvellous
entry in this series. Recommended. ------ Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett
Ann Granger was born in
Portsmouth where she was a pupil at the then Northern Grammar School for Girls
and went from there to London University where she achieved a BA in Modern
Languages (French with German). After a period spent first teaching English in
France and then working in the Visa Section of British Embassies around the
world. She met her husband, who was also working for the British Embassy, in
Prague, and together they received postings to places as far apart as Munich
and Lusaka. She is the author of the Mitchell and Markby Mysteries, the Fran
Varady series and more recently the Lizzie Martin mystery series. She lives in
Bicester, near Oxford.
https://www.anngranger.net/
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