Combines the expert suspense manipulation skills of a Daphne DuMaurier romance with those of a John Le Carre thriller.” New York Times

Past Caring by Robert Goddard | LibraryThing Past Caring by Robert Goddard | LibraryThing

My favorite ever writer and I read 3 books a week from Lee Child to Ian Rankin to Mark Edwards to P James. Bouchercon World Mystery Convention: Anthony Awards Nominees". Bouchercon.info. 2 October 2003 . Retrieved 1 March 2012. I didn’t find the characters in the book particularly easy to like, the majority of them are working to their own personal agenda and seem to have little trouble with doing whatever it takes to get to their goal. Many of the characters are however interesting, I enjoyed reading about Elizabeth, Edwin’s fiancée.Martin Radford is a floundering, unemployed historian with a dim future who jumps at the chance to research the memoirs of Edwin Strafford, a young Edwardian cabinet minister and contemporary of Churchill and Lloyd George with a promising career that went mysteriously astray. Radford’s own blunders will unfold on this journey as he investigates Strafford’s past in this blended mix of politics, romance and historical thriller. After James Davenall has been presumed dead for 11 years, a man claiming his identity appears, throwing the lives of his family and former fiancee into confusion.``Goddard goes from strength to Continue reading » The novel is pervaded with a sense of unease. It's clear no one is what they seem to be and they all have hidden motives. This serves to keep the reader on her toes and kept me questioning most of the conclusions Martin draws about people. The one main character in the book that is exactly what he seems to be, is Edwin Stafford. Even his nephew Ambrose is more than the curmudgeonly drunk he seems when we meet him. The leading ladies in this book are one of its strengths; Elizabeth is awesome, such a strong and gentle woman, and Eve is such a delicious villain, living up to all the historical connotations of her name. Goddard's characters are well drawn and come to life, both the good and the bad; they all are coloured in shades of grey, only coming into full focus and shading at the end of the story. And even then, after I'd closed the covers, I found myself wondering about some of them.

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At a lush villa on the sun-soaked island of Madeira, Martin Radford is given a second chance. His life ruined by scandal, Martin holds in his hands the leather-bound journal of another ruined man, former British cabinet minister Edwin Strafford. What’s more, Martin is being offered a job—to return to England and investigate the rise and fall of Strafford, an ambitious young politician whose downfall, in 1910, is as mysterious as the strange deaths that still haunt his family.Why should distinguished Edwardian Cabinet minister Edwin Strafford resign at the height of his parliamentary career? Why does the woman he loves so suddenly and coldly reject him? Why, sixty-seven years later, should people go to such lengths - even as far as murder - to prevent the truth from being revealed? Combines the expert suspense manipulation skills of a Daphne DuMaurier romance with those of a John Le Carre thriller.”— New York Times About three times during this book I found myself feeling that it was starting to drag. Each time, Goddard broke this feeling with a series of twists and revelations that nearly floored me on occasion, but I still feel this book could have done with a stricter editorial hand at the rudder. You could take virtually any passage from this book and it would read really well on its own, so I understand why you wouldn't want to cut any of it, but when you've got a pacing problem it's time to kill your darlings.