Recent crime novels | 6 December 2012

Odd couples fascinate Frances Fyfield. Her latest novel, Gold Digger (Sphere, £12.99), centres on the relationship between an elderly man, a wealthy art collector named Thomas Porteous, and the youthful Di, whom he first encounters when she tries to burgle his house by the sea. Di has a natural taste for art and is overwhelmed by what she sees — and by Thomas himself. Against expectations, respect, affection and eventually love develop between them, leading to their marriage. But there are problems in the shape of their respective families — the criminal father who abandoned the young burglar and the damaged, predatory children of the collector’s first wife, who are desperate to get their hands on their father’s estate and raise as much money as they can from it.

Worse still is the problem of age, which leads first to illness and then to the death of Thomas. The vulnerable young widow fights to preserve her husband’s inheritance — not so much for herself as to honour his wishes for the collection. Both sides acquire strange allies and the fight gets very dirty indeed. This humane and beautifully written novel is full of almost sensuous detail not just about art but about living itself. Classic Fyfield, in other words, and highly recommended.

There’s a rather different take on art in Ruth Dudley Edwards’ latest novel, Killing the Emperors (Allison & Busby, £19.99). Her crime fiction usually takes the form of bludgeoning to death one of the sacred cows of contemporary life. The series has several recurring characters, but the bludgeon tends to be wielded most ruthlessly by Baroness Troutbeck, the redoubtable Mistress of St Martha’s College, Cambridge, whose previous targets have ranged from the House of Lords to political correctness in academia.