Murder is the beginning of all vice
Murder is all vice (original title Say it with Poison ) from 1991 is the first novel by the crime writer Ann Granger and the first case of the characters Meredith Mitchell and Alan Markby invented by her.
The novel was followed by 14 other novels with Meredith Mitchell and Alan Markby as protagonists , the last one in 2004.
content
Meredith Mitchell is invited to the wedding of her cousin's daughter, actress Eve Owens. In the small village of Westerfield, where Eve bought the old rectory with her late third husband Robert Freeman, she learns a.o. a. Sara's groom Alan Markby and young Philip Lorimmer know. He is involved in an argument with his neighbor Bert Yewell, who is upset about Lorimmer's Siamese cats. Sara is meanwhile with threatening letters and z. B. terrorized an ox heart in front of the door. Meredith eventually finds one of Philip's cats and finally Philip himself poisoned. The Owens are the target of the investigation that will be turned over to Alan Markby. Finally, old Bert is also killed in the shed from which the poison was stolen. It turns out that Philip blackmailed Eve and Sara and Eve, who couldn't raise the money, killed him with poisoned milk. When Eve went to get the photos Philip had hidden in the shed, Bert surprised her and killed him too. When Meredith learns that Eve also shot her first husband Mike, with whom Meredith was having an affair, she reveals Eve to the police. Lucia eventually poisons her employer to save her from prison. Due to the scandal, John breaks the wedding. Meredith and Markby, who had grown closer during the investigation, agree that they will part ways again in the future.
shape
The novel is conceived as a typical Whodunit : the setting is the narrow world of a concrete village, there are only a manageable number of suspects, the perpetrator is exposed and the case is fully deciphered for the reader in a rapid three-page showdown .
characters
- Alan Markby, Chief Inspector
- Meredith Mitchell, English consul in Hungary
- Eve Owens, her cousin
- Sara Emerson, Eve's daughter
- Jonathan Lazenby, Sara's fiancé
- Albie Elliot, film director
- Peter Russell, doctor
- Lucia, Eve's cook
- Philip Lorimmer, potter
- Albert Yewell, cemetery gardener
- Pearl Yewell, his niece and cleaning lady with the Owens
- Howard Locke, retired officer
- Mrs. Locke, his wife
- Mrs. Hartman, librarian
- Sergeant Pearce, a cop
- Fiona, Sara's neighbor
output
- Murder is the beginning of all vice, Bastei-Lübbe 2010, ISBN 978-3404129669
- Murder is the beginning of all vice. Audio book. Read by Eva Michaelis. Audible. 2010