Death Has Deep Roots by Michael Gilbert

Death Has Deep Roots by Michael Gilbert ISBN-13: 9781492699538 Paperback: 288 pages Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press Released: Nov. 5, 2019

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description from Goodreads:
The woman was young, French, and on trial for murdering a man said to be her ex-lover and the father of her dead child: an English major who had been one of the great heroes of the French Underground Resistance during the war. Mr. Macrea, hired to be her attorney on the first day of the trial, must find a way to prove her innocence in only one week. And he must dig deeply into the past to prove it.


My Review:
Death Has Deep Roots is a mystery set in England and France and originally published in 1951. A young French woman is on trial for the murder of an English war hero that she met while working for the French underground resistance in World War II. She switches attorneys right before the trial starts, so we get the details of the trial while also following the adventures of the people trying to find proof that she had no motive to murder the man. The police evidence could as easily apply to others in the hotel, after all. There's a mystery that occurred in the past that the culprits want to keep hidden, so the investigators are in danger. The mystery was clue based and could be guessed, though it turned out to be more complex than I originally suspected. It was an enjoyable mix of courtroom drama and suspense.

There was occasional use of bad language. There was no sex. Overall, I'd recommend this interesting historical mystery.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.