Book review: W J Burley -- Wycliffe and the Three Toed Pussy

[julesjones]

W J Burley -- Wycliffe and the Three Toed Pussy

5 Stars -- An excellent opener for the series

In the first book of the long-running series, Detective Superintendant Wycliffe has recently moved from the Midlands to Cornwall, and is facing his first case on his new patch. A young woman, Pussy Welles, has been murdered. It becomes clear that the small village she lived in holds a good many people with motive to kill her. It seems that the case is easily solved when the gun used to kill her is found by chance, and a woman comes forward to report a telephone conversation with Pussy on the evening she was killed which implicates the gun's owner.

Wycliffe has to arrest the man, but is not satisfied--something feels wrong to him. He keeps digging, and finds evidence exonerating the man--and a second potential suspect being offered to him. Someone is playing a game with Wycliffe, and there is more death to come before he manages to unravel the workings of a macabre puzzle.

Burley has packed a good many layers of move and counter-move into this short novel, and draws some fascinating characters--not least Wycliffe himself in this first outing for the detective. It's an absorbing read, and I'm glad to see it's being re-released by Orion towards the end of 2006 (ISBN 0752880845).

Wycliffe and the Three Toed Pussy at amazon.co.uk