review by Brian Lowen live on bookshow 19th April
It should have been a cosy scene – a roaring fire, sheepskin rug, Vivaldi on the stereo, Christmas lights on the tree. But appearances can be deceptive, for Caroline Hartley, lying quietly on the couch has been brutally murdered.
Chief Inspector Alan Banks, together with his recently promoted side-kick, Detective Sergeant Susan Gay are called to the grim scene on Christmas Eve.
And so we follow them as they start the lengthy process of tracking down all her known associates, past and present, and interviewing them to try and find the killer. A lot of potential suspects are uncovered, and those under most suspicion are in the local amateur dramatics group rehearsing Shakespeares Twelfth Night to be performed on the twelfth night after Christmas.
There is another crime under investigation by Susan Gay involving vandalism of local club houses, the solving of which leads Susan to the killer at the same time as Alan Banks also arrives at the dramatic conclusion of the case.
This book is not a thriller, although it does get a bit exciting in the last chapter, but rather a detailed description of the police investigation – no doubt typical of this type of police work. It is one of a series of stories featuring DCI Banks and recommended by Ian Rankin but I don’t think I shall be looking out for any more books by this author.
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