Since several of you recommended Jill McGown’s Lloyd and Hill police procedural series, I decided to give it a chance. A Perfect Match is the first book in McGown’s series, and her debut novel.
When Chris Woods shows up at Donald and Helen Mitchell’s house early in the morning, he’s drunk and dishevelled. He doesn’t remember much about the night before, but when the police show up at the house, he runs. He’s afraid he might have done something to Donald’s sister-in-law, Julia, the night before, but he doesn’t remember.
Chief Inspector Lloyd and Detective Sergeant Judy Hill were called out early when a woman’s body was found in a boathouse, murdered and naked. As far as they know, Chris Woods may have been the last one to see her. But, Chris is on the run. And, everyone involved in the case seems to be lying to the police. Or, several of them are convinced Woods is innocent and wouldn’t have killed anyone. No one has any proof that he’s innocent.
Lloyd and Hill have been in love for years, but first one, and then the other, was married. Now, despite their difficult case, they realize how much they love each other.
McGown’s police procedural is solid for a debut. The twist at the ending works and comes as a surprise. She manages to involve a number of people, without making the cast too large, so it’s easy to remember the characters. Lloyd and Hill discuss various scenarios, keeping the reader in the loop. There were a few holes in the scientific evidence, but the story still works. I’ll be adding Jill McGown’s books to my list of police procedurals.
A Perfect Match by Jill McGown. St. Martin’s Press, 1983. 189p.
FTC Full Disclosure – Library book
Sounds good but I would recommend to the publisher that they choose a more glaucoma friendly cover. I would have passed it over in a bookstore simply because to my eyes the cover is a dark blob. Too bad because what is inside is may be much better than its cover.
Carol, That was the 1983 edition, when the book first came out. There are other, brighter covers, but, because that’s the one the library had, that’s the cover I used.
I loved this series – but got stymied in the late 90’s as that was before there were book loans in our area from other libraries and my local library is an independent one. It appears that thru what is Link+ here in CA that most of the books are available. Since it has been decades I plan to start over at the beginning.
Thanks for the reminder of her series.
You’re welcome, Jeannette. As I said, Jeff and others suggested it to me.
So glad you liked it. I thought that you would, as it reminds me somewhat of Cynthia Harrod-Eagles’s Bill Slider series.
Interesting. I didn’t think of the Bill Slider series at all, Jeff. It’s missing the humor. I did have to consider the time period when it was written because it didn’t delve into the personalities of the police very much. However, it was a very good debut, and I’m sure the sequels will be even better.
I miss this series – it was one if my faves. It was, to me, much like Deborah Crombie’s series. i was sad when Jill McGown died.
I’m hoping it becomes one of my favorites, too, Kaye. I love Deb Crombie’s series. That’s how I felt about Dorothy Simpson’s Luke Thanet series. It was a favorite.
Never heard of the book or the series. No joy at the Dallas Public Library either. Blah.
Sounds as if Dallas weeded them, Kevin, since this first in the series is over 40 years old. I was just lucky one of the libraries in our system still had it.