What do You think about A Question Of Guilt (1990)?
Our first glimpse of Helen West, the prosecuting attorney in a complex murder case, reveals her studying the case files while she eats. The defendant, Stanislaus Jaskowski, of Polish origin, was a part-time private investigator, charged with the murder of one Sylvia Bernard, the wife of a solicitor, Michael Bernard. Mrs. Eileen Cartwright is listed as someone obsessed with Michael Bernard, and Jaskowski claims that she paid him to kill Sylvia.In her office, which is comfortable but untidy, she works, and soon is joined by Geoffrey Bailey and his colleague, Mr. Ryan, where they go over the file.The author lays out the cozy settings, gives vivid descriptions of the characters, and offers us an opportunity to listen in on the discussions in which they are involved in such a way that completely engaged me. Over the following pages, the plot unfolds, as even more characters are introduced and we come to see the intricacies of how they fit into the big picture.Many of the characters were unlikeable. Jaskowski's son, Edward, who had a secret liaison with Eileen Cartwright at some point; and even Ryan, the underling to Geoffrey Bailey, who makes some pathetic choices. Mrs. Cartwright's pure evil is slowly unleashed on someone else. Who will save the day? How does Peter, Edward's younger brother, fit into the rescue?The twisted plot did keep me reading, and I liked the sections with Helen and Geoffrey the best. A budding romance between them kept things interesting. There were numerous subplots and other characters that had peripheral roles in the story, and I could have done without them. Overall, I enjoyed "A Question of Guilt: A Helen West Mystery," but sections of the story bogged down for me. An overall 4.0 stars.
—Laurel-Rain
Kathy's Review:I read this book as if I were drifting in and out of sleep. Some portions of it lost me; others pulled me in. In particular I enjoyed the love story between Bailey and Helen. Everything else? Just meh. Initially the plot seemed interesting but there wasn’t enough focus on Eileen for me to really be too invested in what was going on with her.Unfortunately, this one fell flat for me as a whole. Maybe it was the rather dry writing style, maybe it was the fact that it was British, maybe it was something else entirely that I can’t quite put my finger on. The one plot was about all I could take away from this novel. I’m not even sure I could tell you for certain that Eileen was convicted.And finally … this cover artwork. What in the what? This honestly doesn’t have anything to do with the story (as far as I remember). At the very least, it doesn’t represent the plot at large. So if you think you’re going to read something about this well-endowed woman clawing at the door … I am sorry, but she’s not in there.*An ecopy was provided by the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
—Literary
Some elements of this book really appealed to me and some just escaped me. There's no doubt the book is well written, but I got lost during some of the exposition segments about the British legal system and found myself skimming those parts. The characters and their relationships were really interesting, and when the book began to tie together about 2/3 of the way through I started to enjoy it a lot more. I am tempted to try another one of these, hoping there is more of the second experience and less of the first.
—Stacy
