Diminished by Death

By Jonathan Ross, Barrie Cookson, Annabeth Albert

The warm July night hugged the lake like a black shroud when the young chap took his girlfriend out in one of Mr. Bodger's boats-for-hire...the problem was, he never brought her back..... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553244396
• ISBN13: 9780553244397
• Release Date: January 1984
• Publisher: Bantam Books
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Not for the Squeamish or Weak-Kneed

Born in 1916, John Rossiter, writing under the pseudonym of Jonathan Ross, is a retired British detective superintendent, who has written gritty crime novels featuring his series detective, Chief Inspector George Rogers. With his assistant the dandyish, snuff-snorting detective inspector David Lingard, the tough-minded Rogers gets deeply enmeshed in a complex murder investigation. It's a grisly, gory, complicated plot, fast-moving, with a cast of distinctly unpleasant characters. A spooning couple in a rowboat under a bridge is interrupted when a bloody knife is dropped into their rowboat. From that point on, it's a roller coaster ride of a procedural where the squeamish dare not go. It involves a plethora of adulterous and voracious wives. The autopsies alone will be enough to make your flesh crawl. An exhausted Rogers gets a broken leg and a shotgun blast for his troubles. His police crew is well-drawn. I've always been intrigued by Ross's hard-boiled British police fiction, and this one will keep readers involved and, at times, appalled by Rogers savage take on life. Certainly not a coy British cozy. Highly recommended.