McGown, Jill 1947- (Elizabeth Chaplin, Pseudonym)

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McGOWN, Jill 1947-
(Elizabeth Chaplin, pseudonym)

PERSONAL: Born August 9, 1947, in Campbeltown, Argyll, Scotland; immigrated to England, 1957. Education: Attended Kettering Technical College.

ADDRESSES: Home—29 Rodney Dr., Corby, Northamptonshire NN17 2RL, England. Agent—Vanessa Holt, 59 Crescent Rd., Leigh-on-Sea, Essex SS9 2PF, England. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Writer, 1980—. Corby Development Corp., Corby, England, secretary, 1964-66; Toller, Hales, & Collcutt, Corby, secretary, 1966-71; British Steel Corp., Corby, administrative assistant, 1971-80.

WRITINGS:

"JUDY HILL AND LLOYD" SERIES

A Perfect Match, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1983.

Redemption, Macmillan (London, England), 1988, published as Murder at the Old Vicarage, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1988.

Death of a Dancer, Macmillan (London, England), 1989, published as Gone to Her Death, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1990.

The Murders of Mrs. Austin and Mrs. Beale, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1991.

The Other Woman, Macmillan (London, England), 1992, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1993.

Murder . . . Now and Then, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1993.

A Shred of Evidence, Macmillan (London, England), 1995, Fawcett Columbine (New York, NY), 1996.

Verdict Unsafe, Fawcett Columbine (New York, NY), 1997.

Picture of Innocence, Ballantine Books (New York, NY), 1998.

Plots and Errors: A Tragedy in Five Acts, Macmillan (London, England), 1999, published as Plots and Errors, Ballantine Books (New York, NY), 1999.

Scene of Crime, Ballantine Books (New York, NY), 2001.

Births, Deaths, and Marriages, Macmillan (London, England), 2002.

Death in the Family, Ballantine Books (New York, NY), 2003.

OTHER

Record of Sin, Macmillan (London, England), 1985. An Evil Hour, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1986.

The Stalking Horse, Macmillan (London, England), 1987, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1988.

Murder Movie, Macmillan (London, England), 1990, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1991.

(As Elizabeth Chaplin) Hostage to Fortune, Scribner (New York, NY), 1992.

SIDELIGHTS: Jill McGown is the author of a long list of mysteries, including the many in her series featuring Detective Sergeant Judy Hill and Detective Chief Inspector Lloyd (whose first name never appears in the stories), who work together in the Stansfield police force. Hill is Lloyd's equal in her sleuthing abilities, and she rises to the rank of inspector as the series progresses. The pair, who begin as partners in solving mysteries, also become partners of another sort.

McGown notes on her Web site that she was born in the fishing town of Campbeltown, Argyll, Scotland, on the Mull of Kintyre, "made famous by Paul McCartney and Wings, and I knew the piper who plays the solo on the record, so there! The McCartneys moved to Campbeltown after I'd left, so I can't claim to know the great man myself." McGown enjoyed a pleasant childhood in Campbeltown, where she played in the sea, and often visited her aunt in Glasgow. When her father could no longer make a living fishing, he moved the family to Corby, England, and from the age of ten, Corby has been McGown's home. She learned typing and shorthand and spent years as a secretary and administrative assistant, and her last such position, with the British Steel Corporation, was eliminated during downsizing. McGown made the decision to forego looking for another job in a market that was experiencing twenty-five percent unemployment, and instead write a book. In making that decision, she began a career that has supported her ever since, penning novels in the house to which she moved as a child.

In the opener, A Perfect Match, it is revealed that Hill and Lloyd experienced a mutual attraction some sixteen years earlier while Lloyd was married. Hill declined his advances for this reason, but the years have brought change. Lloyd is now divorced, and it is Hill's marriage that is foundering. They become lovers before the mystery at the heart of the novel is solved.

Redemption, published in the United States as Murder at the Old Vicarage, finds Hill and Lloyd investigating the murder by fireplace poker of a man who regularly beat his wife. Although the number of suspects is limited, McGown "leads the reader on a merry chase through a maze of alibis, motives, and hidden passions," wrote Edward Lodi in Armchair Detective. Lodi called McGown's mystery a "worthy successor" to Agatha Christie's book of the same name, which McGown references several times in her own.

Death of a Dancer was published in the United States as Gone to Her Death. The victim, a promiscuous young woman, is found raped and bludgeoned on a playing field at the run-down boarding school where her husband teaches. A Kirkus Reviews contributor called the mystery "stylishly written and insightful."

In each of the next two books in the series, The Murders of Mrs. Austin and Mrs. Beale and The Other Woman, Hill and Lloyd have two murders to solve. A Kirkus Reviews writer commented that in the next book, Murder . . . Now and Then, "blackmail, suicide, child abuse, homosexuality—all play a part in a densely plotted story."

A fifteen-year-old girl is strangled in a playground, presumably after having sex with her murderer, in A Shred of Evidence. As Hill and Lloyd investigate, they discover that there have been inappropriate relationships between students and teachers at the girl's school. A Publishers Weekly contributor said the detectives' "professional (and romantic) collaboration creates tension, ignites sparks, and ultimately, in McGown's skilled telling, comprises superior mystery fiction." Booklist's Stuart Miller called the plot "outstanding."

Booklist's David Pitt called Verdict Unsafe "a delight from beginning to end." A rapist Hill brought to justice has been released on technicalities, and now he is stalking her and his former victims, including a young prostitute. Marilyn Stasio wrote in the New York Times Book Review that McGown "delivers strong character studies of the deep mental scars that rape victims carry in places where pity can't reach."

Developers and environmentalists are at odds in Picture of Innocence, in which Bernard Bailey, who refuses to sell his farmland, is poisoned with drugs and stabbed to death. Among the suspects is his wife, whose only purpose was to produce a male heir who would ensure Bailey's inheritance, and who finds warmer companionship with a local television journalist. A Publishers Weekly writer commented that the mystery "possesses a wealth of psychological nuance and narrative depth, all the way to the resolution, a masterpiece of controlled complexity."

Scene of Crime finds the now-married Hill and Lloyd expecting their first child and Hill's partner, Tom Finch, playing a more significant part in the story as Hill prepares for the birth. A Kirkus Reviews critic called this installment a "finely worked Chinese-box puzzle."

Charlotte has been born, and Hill is weighing whether she can leave her with a caretaker and accept a new assignment in Death in the Family. A young girl loses both her chat room lover when he is jailed for seducing her and the only man who has treated her well, the lover of her socialite adoptive mother, who has chosen someone new. Hill and Lloyd are caught up with a murder and the kidnapping of a baby who was born the same day as Charlotte, and in the same hospital. Pitt remarked that Death in the Family is "a typical Hill/Lloyd mystery, and for fans, that's a very good thing." A Publishers Weekly reviewer called it "a stellar must-read, bound to delight existing fans and send newcomers seeking the rest of the series."

Nonseries McGown mysteries include The Stalking Horse, called "a riveting mystery" by a Booklist reviewer, and Murder Movie, deemed an "accomplished novel" by Sybil Steinberg in Publishers Weekly.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1966, pp. 734-736.

PERIODICALS

Armchair Detective, summer, 1991, Jane S. Bakerman, review of A Perfect Match, p. 344; winter, 1992, Edward Lodi, review of Murder at the Old Vicarage, pp. 104-105.

Booklist, April 15, 1987, review of An Evil Hour, p. 1252; September 15, 1988, review of The Stalking Horse, p. 123; May 15, 1996, Stuart Miller, review of A Shred of Evidence, p. 1571; April 15, 1997, David Pitt, review of Verdict Unsafe, p. 1410; December 15, 2000, Emily Melton, review of Scene of Crime, p. 792; December 1, 2002, David Pitt, review of Death in the Family, p. 649.

Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 1987, review of An EvilHour, p. 599; August 15, 1988, review of The Stalking Horse, p. 1196; December 15, 1989, review of Gone to Her Death, p. 1787; August 1, 1991, review of The Murders of Mrs. Austin and Mrs. Beale, p. 972; January 1, 1993, review of The Other Woman, pp. 25-26; August 1, 1993, review of Murder . . . Now and Then, p. 968; June 1, 1996, review of A Shred of Evidence, p. 785; June 15, 1998, review of Picture of Innocence, p. 849; March 1, 2001, review of Scene of Crime, p. 298; December 1, 2002, review of Death in the Family, p. 1737.

New York Times Book Review, February 5, 1989, Marilyn Stasio, review of Murder at the Old Vicarage, p. 26; June 29, 1997, Marilyn Stasio, review of Verdict Unsafe, p. 22.

Publishers Weekly, April 3, 1987, Sybil Steinberg, review of An Evil Hour, p. 66; September 2, 1988, Sybil Steinberg, review of The Stalking Horse, p. 90; January 5, 1990, Sybil Steinberg, review of Gone to Her Death, p. 65; December 14, 1990, Sybil Steinberg, review of Murder Movie, p. 56; July 12, 1991, review of The Murders of Mrs. Austin and Mrs. Beale, p. 55; January 4, 1993, review of The Other Woman, p. 60; August 16, 1993, review of Murder . . . Now and Then, p. 90; May 6, 1996, review of A Shred of Evidence, p. 72; April 14, 1997, review of Verdict Unsafe, p. 60; May 4, 1998, review of Picture of Innocence, p. 206; January 22, 2001, review of Scene of Crime, p. 305; January 6, 2003, review of Death in the Family, p. 43.

Times Literary Supplement, September 23, 1988, T. J. Binyon, review of Redemption, p. 1039.

Washington Post Book World, January 15, 1989, Jean M. White, review of Murder at the Old Vicarage, p. 6; January 20, 1991, review of Murder Movie, p. 10.