Once upon a time, Sukey Reynolds had a promising career in the police. She had to abandon that dream when her husband left her for another woman on her son's 10th birthday. Fergus is now 16 and Sukey has recently returned to work as a civilian Scene of Crime Officer. She still has friends in the police, most notably a romantic interest, DI Jim Castle, and she receives assignments to take photographs and obtain other crime data or information as needed. This cozy murder mystery opens with Sukey attending at Hazel House in Marsdean to gather information at the scene where the body of Lorraine Chant is found in the master bedroom.
This is a well-plotted mystery with plenty of red herrings and a complex set of related crimes involving a group of people connected to a past bank robbery. Although Sukey is the main character, and a woman I'd like to get to know better, there are other points of view within the narration as the investigation into the murder leads to evidence of other nefarious activities. Since this is the first of a long-running series originally published in the 90s, the technology and investigative methods are a bit dated but that doesn't negatively affect the outcome of the case. This isn't the grisly chiller thriller type of book, nor is it really suspenseful, but demonstrates overtones of a police procedural where dogged detectives and serendipitous findings lead to the solve.
I enjoyed this change of pace and I look forward to reading the next few in the series that I happen to have on my TBR. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the e-book ARC to read and review.
This is the first in a series -- I intend to read them in order.
Genre - cozy mystery, police procedural
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