Before The Poison by Peter Robinson

 

Chris Lowndes has moved back home to Yorkshire.  Chris has been in the United States for over thirty years and made his career writing the music for movies, a very successful career.  After the death of his beloved wife, he feels that he needs a change and buys a home in a remote Yorkshire village without viewing it.

After he takes possession, he has a chance to explore the house he has bought.  There is a huge family portrait hanging in the foyer, a man, his wife and their young son.  Chris learns that this was the family who lived there before him, a doctor named Earnest Arthur Fox, his wife Grace and their son.  What he hadn't expected to learn, Grace was convicted of Fox's murder by poison and hanged, one of the last individuals to undergo capital punishment in that location.

The more Chris learns about the family, the more drawn he feels to Grace.  She was also a musician and has left her grand piano behind in the house.  She was known as a nurse, a gracious lady who was kind to all.  What brought about her murder trial?  It turns out that Grace had an affair with a young man, years younger and the affair said the prosecution was her motive.  The conservative jury was ready to believe that and she was convicted.

Chris isn't that sure.  He starts to poke around, looking for those who were around thirty years before when the murder and trail occurred.  He manages to locate the young artist with whom Grace had the affair, and relatives of Grace's son.  He is soon obsessed with the case.  Was Grace innocent of the crime?

Most readers know Peter Robinson for his Inspector Alan Banks series.  This mystery does not fit in that series but is a stand alone.  Readers will be drawn into Chris' investigation and surprised to hear his backstory.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.