e-Book, 250 pp. (Tina Rhea #21)
ISBN 978-1-55497-331-6 $10.00

In this new novel, Michael Harrison has re turned to the cathedral city of Rowcester, scene of his enchanting best-seller, the House in Fishergate.

In Treadmill, so enthusiastically and unanimously praised by the critics, Mr. Harrison treated of the relationship between a son and his father: in Sinecure, he treats of the relationship between a ‘mother and son—in this case, a too dominant mother and a too compliant son. The son is the Reverend Raymond Higgins, rector of the ancient church of St. Beowulf’s, the "sinecure" of the book’s title.

How old Mrs. Higgins arranges her son’s life to her own satisfaction; how that son compromises with his own discontent; and how the Private affairs of the Rector and the City Surveyor interact to the discomfiture of Mr. Young, and the ultimate ruin of his cunning schemes, are told with all this distinguished author’s customary skill; his irony, his wit and his deep understanding of human nature have never been shown to better advantage than in Sinecure, which combines a plot of warm sentiment with a biting commentary upon certain sinister trends of contemporary social organisation.

"... such irony and understanding as to make up a really good and even brilliant entertainment." — Ralph Straus

"He has a real gift for sympathetic ridicule." — Frank Swinnerton,

"A writer of undoubted ability." — HOWARD SPRING

"... may become an author who is as much a part of our shelf space as are Bennett, Walpole and Wells." — Rachel Ferguson

"Clever—and full of arsenical fun." — Paula Hansford Johnson

"Mr. Michael Harrison’s reputation goes up solidly, book by book." — Angela Milne