The Red Herring

Why, this time, are the waters being muddied for DCI Woodend?

The discovery of the body of a young schoolmistress lying in a pigsty is the beginning of a new investigation for Charlie Woodend. But he is soon to be ordered to abandon the investigation when Helen Dunn, the daughter of Wing Commander Dunn - and a pupil at the school where the dead woman taught - suddenly vanishes into thin air. While Woodend and Rutter race against time in the desperate home of finding the girl alive, Woodend's bagman, Monika Poniatowski, continues to work on the murder, under the supervision of the mysterious Chief Inspector Horrocks, a Scotland Yard man who seems to have only a mild interest in finding the killer.

Are the two cases connected? Woodend begins to wonder. And if they are, who is it who seems to be blocking both investigations at every turn?

"This latest Woodend and Rutter mystery offers a fast, unsettling pace, strong dialogue and dark humor. Along with a sure sense of police procedure are vivid descriptions of life during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the atmosphere at an exclusive school, along with Le Carré-like sense of the folly of espionage. Spencer broadens her appeal here from procedural fans to devotees of military and spy thrillers."
Booklist

"Spencer's finest hour: a tightly plotted puzzler with surprises at every turn."
Kirkus Reviews

The Red Herring has been awarded the coveted Red Star by Kirkus Reviews

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