- Mass Market Paperback
- Publisher: Dell Pub Co; Reissue edition (May 1985)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0440120306
- ISBN-13: 978-0440120308
- Product Dimensions: 17 x 10.7 x 2.3 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,992,231 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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3 reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Oy, What a Mother!
28 Jan 2010
Format:Mass Market Paperback
"The Death of a Perfect Mother" is a purely ironic title of a gem by the superb British crime writer Robert Barnard. Lill is a feisty monster of a woman who is hated and/or feared by everyone who knows her in the town. Her two sons, Brian and Gordon, are planning to top her off in a dark alley one Saturday night on her way home from a rowdy night in the pub. Her daughter Debbie is engaged in all-out warfare with her, and her dim-witted husband Fred is unaware that his wife is promiscuous and something of a blackmailer.
She terrorizes the town, and is a loud, brawling harridan who goes looking for trouble when things seem to get dull in her life. She gets garroted in a back alley, and her sons have alibis. When Chief Inspector McHale starts investigating, he has no shortage of suspects. Many are willing to add details about Lill's perfidy. Debbie calls the inspector "dishy," but Brian figures out that the copper is none too bright.
It's fun reading because Barnard has assembled a great cast of characters and has fashioned a book that has an intriguing psychological twist to it. It's great to watch Lill as she tramples on everyone in sight including her mother who lives next door.
Barnard loves nasty characters and chronicling them as they get their come-uppance, but not before they've done a lot of damage to the people around them. Barnard doesn't go in for creating saints. He's a satirist, humorist, and a social commentator because English society in general often emerges as a villain.
She terrorizes the town, and is a loud, brawling harridan who goes looking for trouble when things seem to get dull in her life. She gets garroted in a back alley, and her sons have alibis. When Chief Inspector McHale starts investigating, he has no shortage of suspects. Many are willing to add details about Lill's perfidy. Debbie calls the inspector "dishy," but Brian figures out that the copper is none too bright.
It's fun reading because Barnard has assembled a great cast of characters and has fashioned a book that has an intriguing psychological twist to it. It's great to watch Lill as she tramples on everyone in sight including her mother who lives next door.
Barnard loves nasty characters and chronicling them as they get their come-uppance, but not before they've done a lot of damage to the people around them. Barnard doesn't go in for creating saints. He's a satirist, humorist, and a social commentator because English society in general often emerges as a villain.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
You may feel like you'll need a shower after this book.
30 Aug 2005
Format:Paperback
This book is full of objectionable and odious characters. And Barnard does an excellent job in his characterizations of the terrible Hodsden family. The victim (mother) of this family is so truly awful, and she rules over her family with an iron fist. The family lives cheaply and vulgarly, and none of them are accepted in their village. There's not much mystery here, but the reading is pure pleasure. We are forced to keep reading, and as we read we shudder and are grateful that maybe our lives aren't as tawdry as this. This is a wonderful "in your face" satire. Even the policeman in charge of the case is an unlikeable stuffed shirt. Barnard is a real master at characterization, and this book is just too much fun.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Mommie dearest move over
9 Dec 2003
Format:Hardcover
This novel was my first Robert Barnard mystery.
And what a novel! The victim was nasty and the investigator was influenced by that. Excellent cat and mouse game between detective and suspects.
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