R.I.P. By Nigel Williams (Corsair)
Reviewed by Patrick O’Connor
THIS is in many ways a classic whodunnit.
Except that it is extremely funny and that the story is told through the eyes of one of the murder victims!
The setting is traditional British fare, George Pearmain, a retired suburban bank manager, is lying in bed one morning under the impression that he is sleeping off a king-size hangover.
He is aware of conversations downstairs – mainly his wife Esmerald slagging him off – as preparations are underway for George’s mother Jessica’s 90th birthday.
George begins to suspect that something is wrong when he struggles to rouse himself especially as it becomes clear that Jessica is dead, apparently battered by an intruder.
What’s more, George eventually realises that he too has been murdered and is in fact now coming to terms – and the physical restrictions – of being a ghost!
But that doesn’t stop him from embarking on an often humourous trek to work out who was the killer.
Author Nigel Williams spins a deliciously perky tale in which various members of George’s family come under suspicion and the spotlight exposes all their many human faults.