Roger Ormerod

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Titles to Look Out For:
[in order of publication]
1980. Cart Before the Hearse
1996. Landscape with Corpse

• Cart Before The Hearse [top]
  First published in 1980 in Great Britain by Robert Hale in hardback with dustjacket, 160pp, ISBN 0709179243
  A Malllin & Coe Story

About this book/synopsis: Occasionally a case comes up backwards. When Ernest Connolly said "I have killed...", he did not name the victim. So Dave Mallin and George Coe find themselves attempting to discover a body to fit the crime. Fortunately they have a lead, a rather unusual car. Following the lead-in practice driving it, straight into trouble, turns out to be hazardous, and although the victim is soon discovered, it is not at all certain where the blame really lies. Five men were intimately involved with that fatal Saturday. Five men and one girl. George becomes obsessed with the loaded pistol which was not fired, but Dave is more interested in the phone call that was not made. And neither is quite certain, until the end, exactly whose murder they are investigating

Characters:
Dave Mallin - private investigator
George Coe - private investigator
Ernest Connolly - perpetrator
Marcia Connolly, wife of Ernest Connolly
Inspector Peter Underhill Florence
Detective Sergeant Fyne
Ray Caldicott, private investigator
Gregory Poole
Mia Poole
Patricia Montague
Collie Dean
Niki
Wally

• Landscape with Corpse [top]
  First published in 1996 in Great Britain by Constable and Company Limited, in hardback with dustjacket, 188pp, ISBN 0094749604
  Jacket illustration by Terry Pastor; design by Splash Studio. Original UK retail price for this edition: £14.99 net

Storyline/story: The idea was basically excellent - a week's course at an Adult Residential College. This should be a relaxing week of landscape painting for Philipa Lowe and Oliver Simpson, though in Oliver's case, it is intended as a therapeutic exercise. But the rest of the group are all experienced artists and are regular students. At first, Philipa and Oliver feel out of place, but friendly encouragement breaks down any barriers, and there is no more than a hint that the wrongs and animosities of the past might intrude.

When violence breaks out, and one of the group is killed, Elise Harcourt, a young woman, is suspected. Philipa has become friendly with Elise, but the more she tries to help her, the more this naive young lady becomes the police's prime suspect. Elise's motivation for the killing would have been very strong, but for the fact that it was centred (in her mind) on the wrong person - and the person to whom she ought to have directed any thoughts of revenge is the second of their group to be murdered.