Jill McGown (1947-2007) is most remembered for her tightly plotted and nuanced books about Chief Inspector Lloyd, whose first name is a running gag throughout the series, and Detective Sergeant Judy Hill, co-workers and lovers in East Anglia. In addition to the complexities of their relationship, McGown invariably delivers a layered mystery full of misdirection, credible characters, and realistic motives. Redemption is the second in the series of 13 books about the pair. It was published by Macmillan in London in 1988. St. Martin’s Press published it in the United States under the name Murder at the Old Vicarage in 1989.
Christmas Eve starts normally enough in the village where George Wheeler is vicar. Snow is falling, complicating residents’ efforts to run errands for Christmas and Boxing Day. His wife Marian is preparing for the series of services that will begin that afternoon while he is supposed to be finishing his sermons. Their daughter Joanna, home after a stay in hospital, is part of the shopping crowd. By the end of the day, when everyone’s thoughts should be turned toward Christmas carols and gifts, Joanna’s estranged husband lies in one of the upstairs bedrooms in the vicarage, bludgeoned to death by a poker, and the entire family is under suspicion.
Judy Hill is relieved to be called away from home to the murder site. She has nothing in common with her husband’s visiting parents, and her mother-in-law is hinting a little too broadly about grandchildren. Lloyd is wanting more of her time than she feels she can give without jeopardizing her marriage, and their relationship seems to be at a crossroads.
She and Lloyd view the Wheelers’ insistence on a wandering tramp with skepticism. Once they learn that Joanna was in hospital because of a beating administered by the victim, they are sure they have the answers in front of them. It’s just a question of which Wheeler got tired of the husband/son-in-law first. Unfortunately, all three of them have alibis.
The story flips back and forth between the domestic crisis in the Wheeler household and the crisis in the Lloyd/Hill relationship. Both get sorted, more or less, by the end. An homage to Agatha Christie and the first appearance of Miss Marple, this story is one of the best in a very good series.