An enjoyable police procedural set in the Derbyshire moors. Hounds from a local hunt find the body of a man with severe head injuries, an anonymous call had place a victim some distance away. Detective Sergent Diane Fry and Detective Constable Matt Cooper have a problematic start to the investigation. The presence of the hunt with the attendant friction between hunters and objectors is a complicating factor. The threads of the investigation pick up with the identification of the victim and his links with the meat industry. The investigation unfolds carefully as the range of activities the victim was involved in start to increase the number of potential suspects. A split narrative regarding a little know piece of military activity related to Cold War fears comes to a satisfyingly bitter conclusion.
The plot mechanics are the better part of this story, the cast are a little too subdued to actively engage the reader. Diane Fry is a spiky conflicted character who finds that her past is catching up with her in a way that considerably increases the pressure on her in her current position. She is a fish out of water in the rural setting, seeking to escape and finding herself somewhat unmoored rather than free. Her anger and frustration are vividly realised, they just are not applied effectively in the story. The investigation does not move her anywhere further, the circumstances she finds herself in are left open so she is effectively dancing on the spot.
Ben Cooper is from the local area and has deep roots in the community and again he is vividly realised but the interaction between the character and the plot is not very profound. The lead characters have come to critical points in their lives and they wrestle credibly with them, the plot and the investigation runs along side them on a parallel line. This is disappointing as the writing is excellent and it feels like a missed opportunity to give the investigation a greater force and impact. The second plot thread avoids all these issues as it captures with brutal precision the way the past can grip someone and blind them to the present leading to a terrible result. This is so well done it rather highlights the failure of the main story to achieve the same impact.This is a very good crime story. well worth any readers time, the fact that it misses being a great crime story is as much a tribute to the expectations it creates as it is a criticism.
