I’m not hugely into crime novels but i’m prepared to give them a go now and again especially when one is passed on to me. I’m always open to finding new authors, and it’s always good to mix and match preferred reading genres.
So this is the blurb on the back…..
It is a freezing mid-winter on Exmoor and in a close-knit village where no stranger goes unnoticed, a local woman has been murdered in her bed. This is local policeman Jonas Holly’s first murder investigation. But he is distracted by an anonymous letter accusing him of failing to do his job. Taunted by the killer and sidelined by his abrasive senior detective, Jonas has no choice but to strike out alone on a terrifying hunt.
The story starts with a bang or rather a victim and a murder. When Jonas can’t find the murderer, DCI Marvel and his team move in. They trample all over Jonas and his attempts to solve the mystery and in doing so push Jonas into trying to work things out in his own way. The whole village becomes involved in solving the crime as they live in fear of who will be next.
There is a whole back story going on with Jonas’ wife Lucy who is becoming increasingly debilitated from MS. The couples attempts to manage this adds a interesting dimension to the story, and one that is handled with warmth and I suspect a good degree of accuracy
There are plenty of twists and turns throughout and lots of curve balls throw in along the way, so that its never completely clear who is the guilty party. I was a little disappointed in the ending, and not just because my theory was proved completely wrong.
The Sunday Times bills this as ‘One of the most gripping whodunnits you’ll read this year’. I’m not sure about that but, as I said earlier I’m no expert. This is a perfectly passable read and one that I suspect lovers of the ‘whodunnit’ while hugely enjoy.