Thursday, February 13, 2020

Book review - "The Crossing" by Matt Brolly

DI Louise Blackwell has been shifted the backwaters of Weston-super-Mare after a disputed police shooting, and is not doing well away from the big city of Bristol where she was moving up the ranks. Now she’s a small fish in a smaller pond and the body of Veronica Lloyd, found murdered on the beach, is her first case here. A second murder of the old local priest raises questions in her mind about the connections, as both were pierced through their palms and wrists. It’s not until a mysterious monsignor nudges her towards St Bernadette’s church that what seemed like unlikely clues start to form a possible motive.

As the crimes escalate with still no decent suspects discovered, the pressure to take the case off Blackwell increases, most especially in the form of DCI Finch who has been harassing her since their involvement in the shooting. Now he tries to horn in and use his influence to further disrupt her career. Which of her fellow detectives can she trust to help her?

Brolly does a good job of creating a female detective in a position of powerlessness against someone who is out to discredit her. We understand her self-doubt and insecurity in the face of harassment, and the efforts she goes to to keep faith with herself and her investigative skills, without it becoming melodramatic. The fact that she does have male officers and a boss who back her and trust her judgement makes the situation more realistic, not less. Like many crime fiction protagonists, Louise is alone and lonely, but thankfully not jumping out of character into stupid decisions, learning from past mistakes.

My personal preference is for novels that don’t go into the point of view of the killer – I like the detection and the mystery more that way. But Brolly does create a villain whose obsessions are well explored and those chapters don’t give too much away in terms of tension. A good read, and I’ll look out for more his books.


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