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.
