The Dark Lady

The night after the mysterious appearance of the legendary Dark Lady on the road outside Westbury Park, a German efficiency expert, Gerhard Schultz, is found battered to death in the woods and Chief Inspector Charlie Woodend is faced with his most puzzling case yet.

Why did Schultz seem so frightened when on his colleagues mentioned the legend of the Dark Lady? Did the workers at the BCI chemical factory - many of whom are known to hate the Germans - have anything to do with his death? How could Fred Foley, the tramp whose bloodstained overcoat was found close to the scene of the crime, have completely disappeared? And is this murder connected with one which occurred in Liverpool nearly twenty years earlier?

Kirkus Reviews said of the book:

"Poirot may have had his little grey cells but Chief Inspector Charlie Woodend's got his big flat feet, and their liberal use has given Cloggin'-it Charlie (Death of a Cave Dweller, etc) the devil's own luck at solving cases hairier than his well-worn tweed coat.
This time, though, his luck may change, as Woodend investigates a murder in Westbury Park, former estate of Sir Richard Sutton, now a company town run by British Chemical Industries for the convenience of its employees - a fractious and polyglot crew of demobbed Brits, German POW's, Italian refugees and Polish D.P's. The victim, ex-fighter pilot Gerhard Schultz was unpopular not for his military exploits, but for his post-war ruthlessness as time-and-methods expert for BCI: the company had sat poised, just before his demise, to let the axe fall on the ranks of helpless shift workers.
So the workers band together not so much to stonewall (nobody stonewalls Charlie Woodend) as to gently distract. Luigi Bernardelli jokes about wartime Italy, Karl Muller whispers of his search for God, Zbigniew Rozpedek offers Woodend vodka, and Mike Partridge just glowers. Meanwhile, the local constabulary, under pressure by BCI to solve this one quickly and painlessly, offers up a constant stream of hopeless leads (local tramp Fred Foley chief among them). But Woodend will work his way or no way, using common sense and uncommon grit to ferret out his killer.
Twists, turns, and a barrelful of red herrings fall by the wayside as Cloggin'-it Charlie lands right on the money."

From Booklist, January 1st 2001:

"Chief Inspector Charlie Woodend and Detective Sergeant Bob Rutter, detailed to find the killer of a German efficiency expert, must contend with chemical company bigwigs trying to get them off the case. Spencer's fourth entry in this outstanding procedural series is an atmospheric, nicely paced thriller with a fascinating and complex crime at its core. The setting, an old estate, effectively mixes Gothic and noir: the moody ambience draws equally from Stephen King and Raymond Chandler. Spencer's gift for bringing remote corners of 1960s England to vivid life is on a par with the best historical mystery writers, as is her ability to construct a multifaceted plot. This time Woodend and Rutter follow the case to its tangled World War II roots, which will remind many of Jack Higgins or Frederick Forsythe. Excellent work from a too-little-known author."

From The Library Journal, January 2001:

"A very successful British procedural, nicely complicated by leftovers from both local lore and the war."

Order The Dark Lady (hardback) from Amazon.co.uk

Order The Dark Lady (hardcover) from Amazon.com

We would both welcome any comments, suggestions or criticisms on anything you have read of ours, or on our web site. We can be contacted at: sally@sallyspencer.com