The death of Nina Cattermole was a tragic accident - head butted by ( or possibly head butting) a horse during an anti-hunt protest, the cartilege of her nose was rammed into her brain causing a haemorrhage and killing her instantly. The death of her sister's boy-friend Charlie, on the other hand, was deliberate - he was trampled to death beneath the hooves of another horse, ridden at him with intent.
It falls to DC Den Cooper to determine who killed Charlie, and why. To do so he must dig into a small, insular and internally divided Quaker, the complicated history of Nina and her sisters, and the long-held secrets of an English village. He discovers betrayal, abandonment, incest, possible child abuse, and there's another death before the unlikely killer is unmasked.
I have no recollection of buying Death of a Friend, but I throughly enjoed it nonetheless. Though this apparently the second ina series, Tope was able to weave enough of Den's history through the novel that missing the first installment was not a problem. The characters were interesting, quirky and still believable, the motivation reasonable, and the killer a genuine surprise. - Alex
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