A headless skeleton is found by the River Thames, the bones
bleached white but the breast implants somehow surviving. The
victim turns out to be the drug-and-publicity fuelled wife of a
charismatic pop star. Soon she is joined by her lesbian lover, a
Brit-Art charlatan, then by a quiz show host. All are killed in the
manner of their worst vices, and for DI Jessie Driver, it slowly
becomes obvious that she is tracking a serial killer of low-rent
celebrities. As she pursues the case, she comes up against the
ingrained sexism of a police force unhappy at a fast-tracked woman
detective, and her own personal feeling for the rock star to
contend with. As both her skill and professionalism come into
question, the killer gets closer to her life than she could have
imagined. This is a pacey police procedural, pushed along by a plot
which has been done before (serial killers with stylistic twists
are run-of-the-mill if you read too much crime fiction), but
there's a nice post-modern twist to it all. Centred on a likeable
hero, it almost cries out for TV adaptation with some feisty
actress in the lead. Where it falls down is in its secondary plot
of gangland killings and the lost brother of a lost soul. A strand
that almost implodes on its resolution, it nevertheless lies
unhappily with the main business, confusing without adding to the
book. Nevertheless, this is a welcome addition. DI Driver has the
appeal to serve in several more novels yet and Longworth's rare
achievement is in writing a gritty crime novel that will appeal to
women as much as men. (Kirkus UK)
The most remarkable feat of monarchy is to have survived into the
21st century, frequently challenged but still strong. It has
persisted even though the hereditary principle has frequently meant
that a reigning king or queen was not suited to the role, whatever
their birthright. How has monarchy come to be associated with
democracy and tolerance, when its roots lie elsewhere, in religious
ritual, in absolutism and in the theory that kings rule by divine
right? Brenda Ralph Lewis traces the origins and development of the
idea of monarchy from ancient cultures to the rise of the modern
world and the challenges to monarchical rule from revolutionaries
and political theorists. She explores the biblical basis for
European monarchy and its development at the hands of medieval
clerics, who turned monarchy into a sacred institution, God's
anointed. She also explores monarchy in Asia and Africa, which in
many ways has preserved the ancient origins of the institution more
carefully than their European counterparts. The book provides an
overview of how kings and queens came about and of the many forces
that have shaped the identity of monarchy and in many cases caused
its downfall.
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