A Private Business

Author(s): Barbara Nadel

Location(s): London

Genre(s): Crime

Era(s): Modern

Location

Content

Barbara Nadel brings us a new and original pair of detectives in poverty-stricken Stratford East, whose inhabitants are cynical about any possible improvements the Olympic Park can make to their wretched lives. Here another set of Londoners is impelled towards disaster. Maria, a faded stand-up comedian whose fame reached its apogee 20 years ago, seeks the help of dodgy private investigator Lee Arnold when she begins to experience frightening delusions. Maybe they’re not all in her mind, which is frankly rather filthy.

Readers of a gentle literary disposition should be warned that Maria made her name in comedy through the novelty of a woman using obscene language: we are given realistic samples. At the opposite end of the scale is Lee’s new assistant, Mumtaz Hakim. Like Rendell’s nanny, she comes from a Muslim background and is trying to avoid the “suitable” marriage that her family wants for her.

Mumtaz finds herself deeply involved in Maria’s nightmarish experiences and forced to play an active part in Arnold’s agency, one which exploits her training as a psychologist. The Independent

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