A very engaging and enjoyable English police procedural. Detective Chief Inspector Rebecca Meredith is murdered while rowing early in the morning. Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid is assigned to the case and soon comes under pressure to close in on DCI Meridith’s ex-husband who was in need of money and benefited greatly from her death. As the investigation continues information about DCI Meridith comes to light which pushes the investigation into a different and very hazardous direction.The reveals are cunning staged and the conclusion is wholly satisfying and sharp.
There are two story threads in the book, both delivered with impressive, confident skill, the investigation itself and the lives of the cast that run alongside the investigation. The investigation is set up and managed with competent thoughtfulness by the police team lead by DS Kincaid. They are careful and thorough and when critical and potentially explosive information comes to light handle it with care and attention to detail. The cast members who play a part in the investigation only are given a chance to make an impression on the reader swiftly and they do so. They are never reduced to being just plot devices, they have weight and depth.
The leading cast are given much greater room for lives that run alongside the investigation. The murder and the investigation intrude on their lives , there is a very strongly developed sense that they have had lives prior to the murder and they will continue to do so after the investigation is closed. Duncan Kincaid and his wife, Detective Inspector Gemma James are deeply involved in the investigation, their domestic life also gets a lot of attention. It is a complicated life, both are active police officers who greatly value their careers and also greatly value their children. Gemma is on leave to look after their newly adopted daughter and Duncan is due to take leave to do the same and allow Gemma return to work. The adoption has created problems within their family which already has some credible difficulties.
The difficulty of balancing a commitment to work and family as well as the dynamics of marriage are all quietly played out in a natural and engrossing way. The pressure of the investigation serve to make the pressures of family clearer and more potentially divisive. The situation never feels set up or forced , it is a natural outcome from the circumstances and the way it is resolved is also natural and unforced.
Pessimism is a natural tone for a great deal of crime writing, Deborah Crombie sidesteps it without ever loosing sight of the appalling nature of the events in the story. There is a welcome optimism bubbling under in the story as the cast reorient their lives to take account of the circumstances and determine that the living should continue to live while mourning the dead. One does not preclude the other. A great story and a deep pleasure to read.
