Forgotten Book - The Murders of Mrs Austin and Mrs Beale

I find with some astonishment that in the course of over three thousand posts on this blog, I don't seem to have mentioned Jill McGown. Time to put that right. I read a number of her books (including a stand-alone published as by Elizabeth Chaplin) during the 80s and 90s. I only had one proper conversation with her, at a festival in Manchester in the late 90s, when I found her very pleasant. She also inscribed a number of books to me. It was with some shock in 2007 that I learned she'd died at the age of 59.

Jill wrote a good series about a cop duo, Lloyd and Judy Hill, who were in a relationship. A TV film was made in 2001, starring Philip Glenister and Michelle Collins, but it didn't make an impression, and there was no series. A good example of the reality that TV adaptation doesn't necessarily bring a writer fame or huge fortune. She also wrote several non-series books, while the Chaplin novel, which I ought to re-read, struck me as an attempt to move into the territory of psychological suspense in which, at the time, Minette Walters reigned supreme in Britain.

I was tempted to re-read Jill's 1991 novel The Murders of Mrs Austin and Mrs Beale by a discussion of her work by Barry Pike in CADS. He described the novel as a tour de force, although my own recollection is that I preferred her next novel, The Other Woman. In this one, Judy has just gained promotion and the dynamics of her relationship with Lloyd are changing subtly.

There's a good surprise at the end of the book, but overall I feel it's an example of her competence rather than a masterpiece. I say this mainly because the central story relates to the interlocking relationships between three couples, and I didn't find any of the individuals engaging. The mood is rather drab and after the early deaths of two women, there is an awful lot of talk. So, not the best example of Jill McGown's work in my opinion, but a sound mystery and a reminder that she is a writer who definitely doesn't deserve to be forgotten.