I had actually not read this before, I don't think. I thought I had read all the Felse books, but this one's not familiar to me. Nice! Murder and scheming get turned up when a famous singer, after an auto accident, almost-but-not-quite remembers having killed someone (or at least caused them to die). The Felse connection is Bunty, which I always enjoy - she was one of the chaperones on the trip that turns out to be the crucial one. Lots of following people around, assumptions (mostly wrong) about people and events, at least one unreliable narrator...and a lot about Twu Wuv. I really like that everyone who makes assumptions about why the old event hit her so hard are just plain wrong. I'm almost sorry that there's a HEA ending - apparently she was blocked in love, though not for the reason people assumed. And they do consider the obstacles, they're just willing to deal with them. Very little luck or coincidence in this - good solid police work, and just a touch of luck. And the usual Peters excellent writing - all the mundane details, lyrically described and filling in the story. ( )

A woman has a near death experience, and now is haunted by the thought that at some point in her life, she has been responsible for the death of another. Maggie is a famous singer; beloved by all and known for her generosity, so how can this be? Eventually, Inspector Felse enters the picture, but it must be said that he isn't the major force in this novel.

I think I would have been better off reading this instead of listening to the audio version. Simon Prebble, the narrator, did a fine job, but the story itself dragged. Too much introspection, too little action. Too much explaining about Maggie's delicate sensibilities, and the detective's (not Felse) insecurities. In a print version I could have skimmed the words when they became tedious. I listened to the last of the story with less than half an ear, but enough to know that it ended as murder mysteries of its time should end, although I didn't much care at that point. ( )

Maggie is in a car accident, with a near-death experience in the hospital, which wakens the shadow of a repressed memory. Maggie is convinced she has killed someone, but can remember none of the details. She hires a private investigator, Francis Killian, to determine whom she has killed, and the circumstances around it. In the pursuit of his work for Maggie, Francis meets Bunty Felse, that one-time opera singer who walked away from fame to marry George. Bunty had been a "stage mother" to Maggie in Maggie's early career, and was able to give Killian information that begins the tumbler process of "unlocking" of everything that happened to Maggie. ( )