Safer than Houses - Frances Fyfield

Safer than Houses is a novel from the author Frances Fyfield. It's from the Crime Fiction genre, and has a jacket price of £7.99, though I got my copy for just 50p from a charity shop. It was published in 2005 by Time Warner Books.

**The author**

I had not previously heard of Frances Fyfield, though with a little research I have found her to be an prolific writer, with more than 20 novels to her name, some of which were ...
...fiction genre, since reading Safer than Houses I have found that my brother and best friend are fans of hers, and both of them lay testament to this. She has a website (francesfyfield.co.uk) and from this I have learnt that she has won the Duncan Lawrie Dagger for her latest book – always a good recommendation for an author!

Moving on to the novel in question, Safer than Houses...

**Plot**

The main character ... more

Safer than Houses is a novel from the author Frances Fyfield. It's from the Crime Fiction genre, and has a jacket price of £7.99, though I got my copy for just 50p from a charity shop. It was published in 2005 by Time Warner Books.

**The author**

I had not previously heard of Frances Fyfield, though with a little research I have found her to be an prolific writer, with more than 20 novels to her name, some of which were written as Frances Hegarty. Fyfield sticks well within the crime fiction genre, since reading Safer than Houses I have found that my brother and best friend are fans of hers, and both of them lay testament to this. She has a website (francesfyfield.co.uk) and from this I have learnt that she has won the Duncan Lawrie Dagger for her latest book – always a good recommendation for an author!

Moving on to the novel in question, Safer than Houses...

**Plot**

The main character in Safer than Houses is a female, Sarah Fortune, who is around 40. She is an ex-lawyer who found that she was better at winning the clients than their cases, and chose to do this full-time. From talking to my friend, and looking at Fyfield's website I have found that Sarah Fortune is a fairly regularly featured main character in Fyfield's writings (7 books, including an omnibus).

Sarah Fortune lives in a lovely flat, bequeathed to her, so she thinks, by a late client/ex-lover. She lives alone, happy in her solitude, even when letters begin to arrive from her benefactor's son she remains calm, despite the threatening content and the demands that she returns what is his – her home.

Fortune's closest friend is a virulent yet elderly lady, Dulcie Mathewson. Dulcie has a friend who she is concerned about, who lives close to Fortune, and she asks Fortune to look in on him. A case of mistaken identity provides a new ally for Fortune, and the two swap flats for a while.

The benefactor's son gets more forceful in his demands. Not only does he pester Fortune, but also Dulcie. He begins to research those little accidents which can happen. Gradually, Fortune comes to realise the risk he poses, but is it too late?

**My thoughts and opinions**

It took me a long while to get into this book, about four chapters, but these covered 92 of the 273 pages. I found that there was a lot of scene setting and introduction of characters which was quite slow, but once all the characters began to meet the story really got going and I found it was quite fast-paced (but not so much so that it's hard to follow) and enjoyable. I wondered if there were too many characters and that was why it seemed slow to begin, but they all had significant parts to play, and in the end I appreciated how well developed they were.

There is a quote from P.D. James on the front cover (which, incidentally is effective with a lone female figure running down a deserted corridor in a block of flats) saying 'intriguing and credible'. I agree that the book is intriguing, although there is not a who dunnit to it, the plot isn't so simple as you first think, and the twists are clever. I'm not sure I would describe the book as credible, some aspects are, but I cannot imagine a situation in which anyone could expose themselves to the same things as happen in the book; I don't want to spoil it, so can't say too much, but suffice to say that it would have to be a very specific type of person and set of events. The characters are quite credible, and for the most part likeable.

I liked the climax of this book, sometimes I feel let down by books which constantly build up to a key event, but in this book I thought that Fyfield kept the suspense up well. I really liked the fact that although the reader expects one explanation for the climax, it's not so clear cut.

Although this is a crime fiction novel, it isn't a murder and investigation as seems to be so common in the genre. I liked this, it's less of a formulaic novel.

I'd recommend this to anyone who likes a fairly easy yet rewarding read. Even if you're not usually a fan of crime fiction it's worth a go as it's not typical of the genre.

P.S. I apologise for the poor title, it's half term, I don't need to concentrate! 

...less