Call the Dying: The 7th Novel in the Lydmouth Crime Series and over 1.5 million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more

Buy Used
Used - Good See details
Price: £1.49

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available for
Colour:
Image not available

 
Start reading Call the Dying: The 7th Novel in the Lydmouth Crime Series on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Call the Dying [Hardcover]

Andrew Taylor
3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition £4.99  
Hardcover --  
Paperback --  
Audio, Cassette --  
Multimedia CD --  
Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Learn more.

Book Description

11 Oct 2004 0340825693 978-0340825693 1st
It is 1955 and the influx of televisions do nothing to relieve the tensions in the deeply conservative town of Lydmouth. Mr Frederick, a television engineer, arrives to sell and adapt the new sets. He comes for two nights and apparently leaves. On the evening of that same day, eccentric Dr Bayswater, a retired GP, is found dead. A gentleman's yellow kid glove, slightly gnawed by rats, is found lying next to his body.



Detective Chief Inspector Richard Thornhill is drafted in to investigate. It soon becomes apparent that the case is going to be far from straight-forward. Bayswater was not liked, particularly not by his dashing successor, Dr Connolly nor by a local lorry driver with a grudge and a need for money.



Meanwhile, Jill Francis has returned after three years to take over as editor of the Gazette. But there is fierce competition from the ruthless Ivor Fuggle's rival Evening Post and when she is not trying to keep the newspaper afloat she spends her much of her time with Dr Connolly. Nevertheless, despite himself, Thornhill is still in love with her.


Product details

  • Hardcover: 448 pages
  • Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton; 1st edition (11 Oct 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0340825693
  • ISBN-13: 978-0340825693
  • Product Dimensions: 16.1 x 4 x 24.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 813,439 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Authors

Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

Product Description

Review

'Taylor's Lydmouth series is turning the classical detective story into a complex picture of our own past' (Independent )

'The most underrated crime writer in Britain today' (Val McDermid )

'Andrew Taylor is one of the most interesting, if not THE most interesting novelist writing on crime in England today. Like Ruth Rendell he produces particularly good, emotionally complex psychological novels and rather better straight detective novels than she does in her Wexford series' (Harriet Waugh, Spectator )

'Taylor is an excellent writer' (The Times )

'Taylor is, as always, adept at showing the reality beneath the surface, as the characters interact and the unsavoury truth behind the murder is gradually revealed' (Sunday Telegraph )

'Taylor is the master of small lives writ large and, in the phrase coined in this era of surly pubs and poor food, he has carved a classic detective story which is deceptively calm and cool, but really smashing' (Frances Fyfield, Express on The Suffocating Night )

'CALL THE DYING is expert, ingenious and absorbing.' (Literary Review )

'Full of nostalgic detail, this is old-fashioned crime at its best - perfect for a cold winter night in front of a roaring fire.' (Sunday Times )

'Andrew Taylor's latest addition to his "Lydmouth" murder series perfectly evokes that innocent world of the 1950s. The book is wonderfully redolent of that era, except that it has psychological depth instead of Christie-type cliches. Taylor builds a gripping story, as redolent of the period as brown linoleum. His subtle exploration of provincial society, with its gruesome underbelly, makes this a powerful extension to the series.'

About the Author

Andrew Taylor has worked as a boatbuilder, wages clerk, librarian, labourer and publisher's reader. He has written many crime novels as well as children's books and lives with his wife and their two children in the Forest of Dean, on the borders of England and Wales.

Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
Search inside this book:

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Customer Reviews

3.2 out of 5 stars
3.2 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 33 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars An unsettling mystery but some questions remain 12 Dec 2004
Format:Hardcover
Readers of Andrew Taylor's Lydmouth Trilogy will know they are remarkable for their effortless evocation of grim postwar Britain. Seen through the eyes of Inspector (now Chief Inspector) Richard Thornhill and journalist Jill Francis, crime in Lydmouth reveals the personal tragedies, injustices and absurdities of the period. In this the seventh in the series, Jill Francis, returns to Lydmouth after a 3 year hiatus to edit the Lydmouth Gazette. But she finds the town has changed for the worse and she can't escape her feelings for Thornhill. When a television salesman goes missing and a longstanding town character is murdered, once again she becomes involved in the crimes.

This is another page turning mystery from Taylor with a haunting atmosphere. However the resolution was not as surprising as it could have been. Taylor's strength is his sympathetic drawing of the main characters, but this book didn't seem to add anything new to the relationship between Jill and Richard Thornhill, nor did it really explain why they hadn't spoken in 3 years. Still there are some tantalising clues in here for what may happen next. A great series.

Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Good but not great 4 Jun 2008
By M. V. Clarke VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
Andrew Taylor's Lydmouth series is an enjoyable collection of crime novels set in 1950s England, featuring Inspector Richard Thornhill. This is the third I've read and it maintains the high standards set earlier in the series. Taylor writes well, with interesting characters and a strong emphasis on their personal lives as well as their role in the plot. Like some of the other books in the series, the plot is interesting but fails to come to fruition; the conclusion seemed anti-climactic with a very perfunctory explanation for the main event - the murder of a retired doctor. The mysterious nature of several characters, including the new doctor, the lodger and Thornhill's sergeant didn't really fulfil their promise.

A good, easy read nonetheless.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
10 of 14 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Call the Dying 23 April 2005
By Tim
Format:Hardcover
My first Andrew Taylor book - and I found it a delightful. Very interesting to learn more about life in the 1950's and thought that as a detective novel it had some very good twists and turns...I will be reading more!
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Was this review helpful?   Let us know

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums


Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category


Feedback