Book excerpt: Loretta Lawson, a feminist professor visiting Paris to deliver a paper on the oppressive nature of masculine grammatical forms, stumbles across the murder of an Oxford don. But when the body disappears, she returns to England without alerting the French police, but is resolved to solve the mystery from across the Channel. The BBC adaptation of A Masculine Ending, starring Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton, premiered in 1992. 'I love Loretta' - P.D. James 'Ms. Smith is a literate writer who, in this accomplished novel, manages both to educate and to entertain, which is no mean achievement.' - The New York Times