Anne Morice was a pseudonym for Felicity Shaw (1918-1989)
PLANNING FOR MURDER was published posthumously in 1990 and it appears in my records in 1991.
If you are lucky enough to own a copy of this book, particularly a hard cover edition, then it appears to be worth quite a lot of money.
Morice wrote 25 novels altogether, with the first published in 1970, and then mostly one a year from then on.
A 23 book series featured Tessa Crichton, followed by 2 books featuring Tubby Wiseman.
Blurb from Publisher's Weekly:
This posthumous novel by Morice proves that the author maintained her considerable powers as a wit and creator of complex puzzles right to the end. In PLANNING FOR MURDER Morice again demonstrates her ability to work with a new cast of characters as she expresses in a mystery format her timely concern about the future of the English countryside should it fall into the hands of avaricious developers. In fact there seems to be no dearth of reasons to motivate the eccentric country neighbors whose actions center around a scene of the crime that also happens to be the site of a potential "model village." When a nosy realtor and her friend peer into the windows of the country house that forms the center of the development scheme, they expect to catch a glimpse of the interior of a potential luxury apartment. But when they spy a corpse instead, their action sets off a series of incidents that include staged pranks and cold-blooded murder. As always, Morice provides not only a solid and satisfying plot but also marvelous, witty dialogue that illuminates both character and class.
Lists courtesy Fantastic Fiction
Tessa CrichtonDeath in the Grand Manor (1970)
Death of a Gay Dog (1971)
Murder in Married Life (1971)
Murder on French Leave (1972)
Death and the Dutiful Daughter (1973)
Death of a Heavenly Twin (1974)
Killing with Kindness (1974)
Nursery Tea and Poison (1975)
Death of a Wedding Guest (1976)
Murder in Mimicry (1977)
Scared to Death (1977)
Murder by Proxy (1978)
Murder in Outline (1979)
Death in the Round (1980)
Men in Her Death (1981)
Hollow Vengeance (1982)
Sleep of Death (1982)
Murder Post-Dated (1983)
Getting Away With Murder? (1984)
Dead on Cue (1985)
Publish and Be Killed (1986)
Treble Exposure (1987)
Fatal Charm (1988)
Tubby Wiseman
Design for Dying (1988)
Planning for Murder (1990)
2 comments:
Kerrie - What a terrific choice for Forgotten Books! I love it that you always choose authors others wouldn't have thought of. :-).
PUBLISH AND BE KILLED sounds intriguing. I'll have to give this author a try after your fine review.
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