- Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Minotaur Books; Reprint edition (15 Mar 2011)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0312672535
- ISBN-13: 978-0312672539
- Product Dimensions: 20.6 x 13.7 x 2.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 649,499 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Inheritance
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Review
‘A fine novel. A thinking person’s Da Vinci Code.’ Chicago Tribune
‘A deft combination of Agatha Christie manor-house whodunit. Erle Stanley Gardner courtroom drama, and Dan Brown thriller, The Inheritance is nonetheless unique to its creator’ Richmond Times-Dispatch
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.Product Description
When an eminent art historian is found dead in his study, all the evidence points to his estranged son, Stephen. With his fingerprints on the murder weapon, Stephen’s guilt seems undeniable.
As the police begin to question five other people who were in the house at the time, it is revealed that Stephen’s father was involved at the end of World War II in a deadly hunt for a priceless relic in northern France, and the case begins to unravel.
As Stephen’s trial unfolds at the Old Bailey, Inspector Trave of the Oxford police decides he must go to France and find out what really happened in 1944. What artefact could be so valuable it would be worth killing for? But Trave has very little time – the race is on to save Stephen from the gallows.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Simon Tolkien has a written a very good story spanning two countries and 15 years, in his second novel, "The Inheritance". A war criminal in deed, if not charged, Professor John Cade, is found shot to death in his Oxford home. The house abounds with suspects; his two sons, an old war crony and his wife, a researcher for Cade, and several others. The Oxford police, with a fair amount of surety, charge and convict Cade's younger son, who stands to hang within days of his conviction. This is in 1959, when Britain still had the death penalty in murder cases.
But his barrister and a member of the Oxford Police Department who helped convict Stephen Cade doubt his guilt. Disturbing echos of the war crime John Cade had committed in Normandy after D-Day with two subordinates, have returned to haunt the case. Throw in a missing Cross of St Peter, which everyone seems to be searching for, and the fact that almost no one, other than the Cade family, are who they say they are, and the reader has a fine mystery to read. It's a well-written book with a satisfying ending.
But his barrister and a member of the Oxford Police Department who helped convict Stephen Cade doubt his guilt. Disturbing echos of the war crime John Cade had committed in Normandy after D-Day with two subordinates, have returned to haunt the case. Throw in a missing Cross of St Peter, which everyone seems to be searching for, and the fact that almost no one, other than the Cade family, are who they say they are, and the reader has a fine mystery to read. It's a well-written book with a satisfying ending.
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Whilst I was reading this book I could see very clearly in my mind's eye that it would make a moderately satisfying two-hour tv film of the sub-Morse variety (picturesque views of Oxford and Oxfordshire and rustic Normandy), but it would need a lot of input from an adaptor who could actually write realistic dialogue. I was disappointed by Simon Tolkien's tin-ear for conversation and his inability to render a "feel" for the 1950s English character of the story's setting. There were also some things which were factually wrong, a sign of laziness, as he could easily have verified these either by hiring a research assistant or just Googling! Basically it is a murder mystery and the historic religious artefact which is supposedly at the centre of the tale turns out to be neither here nor there, really, and ultimately I found it a disappointing read.
Format:Hardcover
"The Inheritance," a new British mystery/courtroom drama/thriller by Simon Tolkien, whom the Los Angeles Times has described as "half Christie and half Grisham," gives us the tale of the murder of John Cade, Colonel Cade during his war hero World War II years; now an honored Professor Cade at England's prestigious Oxford University. The don is found dead in his locked study; circumstantial evidence weighs heavy against his son Stephen, who soon ("The Inheritance" is set in the 1950's, when the United Kingdom still hanged those convicted of murder), finds himself on trial for his life in the Old Bailey, London's famous old courthouse. However, there were five other people in the Cade manor that night, and Detective Inspector William Trave of the Oxford and Midland CID, who had initially gathered the evidence that put Stephen on trial, is now, rather late in the day, having misgivings as to his part in building this case. He is revisiting the alibis and backgrounds of the others in the house; he will find and unravel a thread that goes back to the Professor's WWII service in France.
This is a pretty good thriller, it kept me turning the pages, and I liked it. England of the 1950's is well-rendered, as is the Oxford area, its flora and fauna, and the speech of its people. London is also well-rendered. The dialog, narrative and descriptive writing all satisfied me. Characters struck me as unusually sturdy and well-drawn for an entertainment of this type. The courtroom scenes may not have the snap of master Grisham, but they kept my attention fixed on the plight of poor Stephen. The plot is, of course, an artificial construct - aren't they all, come to thrillers--and rarely has there been an English book with so many French, and/or Catholics running about, the better to throw dust in the reader's eye. Still, I was able to pick out the villain by pure process of elimination, as many other mystery fans may well be able to do. The villain is, in fact, a fairly classic Agatha Christie villain, in terms of looks, intelligence, social situation, and behavior, even unto taking the last two chapters to "'splain" it all at length; something that, by the by, hasn't been considered a good way to end a mystery at least since Christie's day.
"The Inheritance" follows on the highly-lauded heels of Final Witness (2002), the writer's first fictional effort. Simon Tolkien was a successful barrister in London who specialized in criminal justice, before moving himself, his wife, and two children to California. He is the grandson of the world-famous J.R.R. Tolkien, an Oxford don for nearly 40 years, and the author of the fantasy masterpieces The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings (3 Book Box set). On the basis of his current effort, I'd say Simon's work is well-enough done that it would be published no matter what his last name was.
This is a pretty good thriller, it kept me turning the pages, and I liked it. England of the 1950's is well-rendered, as is the Oxford area, its flora and fauna, and the speech of its people. London is also well-rendered. The dialog, narrative and descriptive writing all satisfied me. Characters struck me as unusually sturdy and well-drawn for an entertainment of this type. The courtroom scenes may not have the snap of master Grisham, but they kept my attention fixed on the plight of poor Stephen. The plot is, of course, an artificial construct - aren't they all, come to thrillers--and rarely has there been an English book with so many French, and/or Catholics running about, the better to throw dust in the reader's eye. Still, I was able to pick out the villain by pure process of elimination, as many other mystery fans may well be able to do. The villain is, in fact, a fairly classic Agatha Christie villain, in terms of looks, intelligence, social situation, and behavior, even unto taking the last two chapters to "'splain" it all at length; something that, by the by, hasn't been considered a good way to end a mystery at least since Christie's day.
"The Inheritance" follows on the highly-lauded heels of Final Witness (2002), the writer's first fictional effort. Simon Tolkien was a successful barrister in London who specialized in criminal justice, before moving himself, his wife, and two children to California. He is the grandson of the world-famous J.R.R. Tolkien, an Oxford don for nearly 40 years, and the author of the fantasy masterpieces The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings (3 Book Box set). On the basis of his current effort, I'd say Simon's work is well-enough done that it would be published no matter what his last name was.
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