The second Loretta Lawson book once again features Joan Smith's inquisitive English professor, still using telephone boxes and listening to cassette tapes. Throughout the story there are references to her previous investigation and love life, but there's no need to have read the first book to enjoy the second.
This time the action takes place shortly after America's air strikes against Libya, in mid-1980s UK. Our feminist investigator is recuperating in the neighbourhood of a women's peace camp on the perimeter of an airforce base, no doubt inspired by Greenham Common.
The theme of impotency in the face of political scheming makes for a darker story than the first, and it also briefly touches on domestic violence and the role of women in marriage.
Even after two books, I haven't quite got a mental image of Loretta, although her hairstyle and fashion sense are described. She seemed less feisty in this story and more nervous. However, I'm bound to read the next in the series, as the story's ending was rather unexpected.
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