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The Echo
'It was the smell that Mrs Powell noticed first. Slightly sweet.
Slightly unpleasant... It shocked her badly to find a dead man in the
corner, his head slumped on his knees.'
Who was Billy Blake, other than a homeless alcoholic who wandered the
streets? Why was he found dead from starvation in one of the richest areas
of one of the richest capitals in the world? And why did he die in the
garage of wealthy architect Amanda Powell, without once calling for her
help?
Having thwarted press interest at the time, six months on from the bizarre
tragedy Amanda is suddenly eager to talk to journalist Michael Deacon.
She seems to have developed a strange obsession with her dead visitor,
and Deacon's curiosity - both about her and her motives in trying to establish
Billy's true identity - is intense.
But Deacon's interest in Billy Blake has more to do with forgotten echoes
in his own life than in the moralistic stance taken by Amanda Powell -
a woman whose wealth can only be explained if her husband is dead...
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'Lavish in nuance,
nearly seamless in its simultaneous narratives of a life redefined
and one awaiting redefinition, The echo is a major novel by
an important novelist. That it happens also to qualify as crime
fiction is icing on the cake to any fan of the genre. Whatever
else you read this season, don't miss The Echo!'
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| The Armchair Detective |
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