Home > Books > Writer's Corner > Authors > Y Authors
A Small Deceit by Margaret Yorke 88 of 88 Ciao Users found the following review helpful
Rating from CPTDANIELS 5 Stars ()

Advantages Wonderful story with superb characters

Disadvantages No Epilogue, no humour

About the Author

Margaret Yorke is a very accomplished, respected and famous English crime writing author.
Her first book 'Summer Flight' was Published in 1957. Since then she was written 41 other crime novels.
In 1999 she won the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for 'The Scent of Fear'.

Storyline of the Book

The book is set in the late 1980's in Northamptonshire.

William Adams is a dangerous and unpredictable man. He has recently been released from prison having served seven years of a ten year sentence for rape.

As soon as he is released he changes his name in order to start a new life. By doing this he is not known to the Police and the Sex Offenders Register. After a couple of short term illegal money making scams, he is on the look out for a new way to make money.

One night he stays at a Bed and Breakfast in a small village called Witherstone under his latest assumed name of Frank Brown. Here at breakfast he meets a fellow lodger for the night a man called Desmond Baxter.

This man he recognises as the judge who sentenced him to prison. But why is he staying there? Why is he lying about his identity now? And what is the reason for this small deceit?

After Breakfast Frank decided to follow him, seeing a possibility of blackmailing the Judge. Finding out where he lives and via local directories his home telephone number.
What he doesn't realise is that the man calling himself Desmond Baxter also recognises him.

My thoughts on the book

The actual storyline for this book is intriguing. It moves quickly and at no time do you have the opportunity to get bored with it. Indeed I found this book so hard to put down that I had read it in just two days. A record for a slow reading like myself.

This I believe is due not only to the compelling story but the way the author skilfully writes. Her writing is always clear and crisp with fantastically interesting characters that are described in superb detail.

What she does cleverly is draw you in with her story that leaves you having to know more. While at the same time you are wondering which way things will go and what will happen next.

She is great at building up suspense and leaving you not only understanding the characters but wondering what will become of each one of them.

The author links up all the characters and events so well, she seemed to have considered every aspect and is clearly amazing at understand and insight into human nature.

So often I find the end of a book disappointing, this was not the case in this one however. As Yorke skilfully brings the book to a thrilling climax. Maybe an epilogue would have been a good thing to add as I really want to know what happens in the next few months to all the characters. I certainly would have appreciated it!!


Conclusion


For me this is a first class piece of crime fiction and a must read for all Margaret Yorke fans. Even for someone who has never tried her books I would recommend giving it a go. I have read five of her books so far and enjoyed them all. They are not heavy books just a very enjoyable read.

Great read and thoughly enjoyable book


It has 314 pages and is Published by Time Warner ISBN: 07515 17720

Available on Amazon for £5.59


CPTDANIELS

Detailed Rating

Would you read it again?
Story
Characters
Readability
How does it compare to similar books?
How does it compare to other works by the same author?

The Author

CPTDANIELS since 14 Jun 2003

Hello, thanks to all those who continue to read and rate my reviews. I only rate those who rate... more

349 Members trust me

Rate this User Review

How helpful was this review to you? Rating guidelines

Attention, this is the first review from this author

Instead of giving a negative rating, consider:

  • Help this member by giving your advice

  • Report fraud (for example plagiarism) or other issue with the review to the Ciao support team

Activate low rating buttons

Add your comment

 Post comment  Post comment

JavaScript should be enabled to rate or post a comment.

Comments

Maybe you have a question about Margaret Yorke? Ask here
Previous page Next page Page 1 of 18 | 1 - 5 out of 88 comments
  • Autarkis 19/11/2009 14:31
    Rated this review as
    Very Helpful
  • dnl05 30/03/2009 11:15
    Rated this review as
    Very Helpful

    Great review!

  • debmercury 24/01/2009 18:18
    Rated this review as
    Very Helpful

    Well reviewed :o) x

  • lml888v 01/11/2008 19:04
    Rated this review as
    Very Helpful
  • bill1111 03/10/2008 13:58
    Rated this review as
    Very Helpful
Previous page Next page Page 1 of 18 | 1 - 5 out of 88 comments

Similar Offers

for Margaret Yorke