Voices from the Past

I would have liked to see more storyline here. Now that I have finished the book, I look back at this section and am unhappy that it was so thin. The tag line is that Oliver was murdered for something from the recent past not the distant past.

Well, there is som much that I would have liked to understand. Jago was a boatman on the wild Cornish coast. His father was murdered by Oliver's father. Now that is a strong story line and one I would have liked to see populated. But, as if this were a screenplay reduction, we see little of the heart and soul of it.

Dan's mother. We should have heard a little more on her. We barely know of her existence. And Dan's life with the fundementalist Christians -- very stale storyline. Hardcore, heartless Christians have been done over and over again. Why can't he have had Communist relatives who were distainful of his deep need to know the father who disserted his fragile and broken mother. His longing for something more personal and warm than the hardcore and hardhearted comrades in the youth group.

Emily Holcombe's life is just too sketchy. It has no substance. I would have liked to see the life of an 80 year old woman in good health and with a wickedly sharp mind. She needed to be developed as a serious suspect. And if that seems too close to Lady James, well, look at Mrs. Maxey in "Cover Her Face." That hit pretty close to the author.

Ah well.