Political Suicide

Robert Barnard

James Partridge was a member of Parliament. He represented a depressed town in Yorkshire, Bootham. He has been very actively working on a bill for animal rights. Then he was found in the Thames, an apparent suicide victim.

Now insignificant Bootham finds itself in the middle of a media circus. A special election is being held in February to choose Partridge's replacement. Representatives are chosen for the Conservative, and majority, party, the Labour party, and the runner-up Socialist Democratic Party. This is a popular media vote, since it is off season. For this reason, it is attracting some of the smaller, crack-pot parties:

"...they were: the Home Rule for England candidate; the Women for the Bomb candidate; Yelping Lord Crotch, the Top of the Pops candidate; the Transcendental Meditation candidate; the Transvestite Meditation candidate (Ms. Humphrey Ward); the John Lennon Lives candidate; The Bring Back Hanging candidate; the Britain Out of the Common Market candidate; the Richard III was Innocent candidate; and Zachariah ZZugg, the I'm Coming Last candidate..."

Hmmmm, reminds me of a certain western state's governatorial recall/election this year. California has attracted almost 200 "unusual" candidates, along with the three or four major contenders.

Anyway, Superintendant Sutcliffe isn't satisfied with Partridge's suicide verdict. He has some vacation time coming before his retirement, and he decides to use it in Bootham and London, digging further into Partridge's recent past. The clues he finds lead towards murder, but aren't conclusive. Can he discover if Partridge's death was really suicide, or did someone kill the man? If so, why?

Political Suicide is a light novel, without much substance. The ending is tongue-in-cheek, and reflects what happens in real life all too often. Most of the book revolves around the Parliament race in Bootham, and the mystery is the sidelight.

Murder in Kennedy Center by Margaret Truman