of the San Francisco Examiner wrote: "Highly interesting cross-section of English middle class life provides the basis for the straight-detection item, with all the fine characterizations and surprises that one expects of Rendell." The Lewiston Evening Journal called it a "fine example of brilliant characterization, neatplotting realism and pace to command the fullest possible attention of the reader from the first paragraph to the finalpunctuation mark." Ruth Vastine of The [Press of Atlantic City] stated: "There are sections of the book which describe the countryside and other various locations and some of these are overdone. Nonetheless, the story is a very involving and successful who-done-it."