Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Cold Revenge by Jo A. Hiestand

Jo A. Hiestand lives in St. Louis, Missouri, where she writes two British mystery series set in Derbyshire and Staffordshire as well as a cozy culinary mystery series. In addition to the usual travel and research for books set in another country, she has enlisted British police officers to help maintain technical accuracy of her plots.

Cold Revenge (The Wild Rose Press, Inc., 2015) is the first Michael McLaren mystery. It was published by Worldwide Press under the title Siren Song in 2012. McLaren is a former detective, forced out of the Derbyshire police in a political power move. Angry and bitter, he moves to Staffordshire where he takes up a reclusive life, repairing stone walls. A year later Linnet Isherwood seeks him out to investigate the death of her friend Marta Hughes, who vanished after a successful night of gambling and was found dead about 10 days later. The case has gone cold and the police have no more leads to follow. The considerable cash she was carrying was never recovered.

McLaren assumed that Marta had been attacked for her casino winnings but soon discovered there were other possible motives. The neighbor next door harassed her relentlessly, and a local group of drug-using teenagers resented her reporting them to the village constable. One of Marta’s coworkers was a strong suspect at one point but since she had an unshakeable alibi for the night Marta disappeared, no case could be brought against her.

McLaren investigates as best he can, frustrated at using only the resources available to a civilian. One advantage he has is the perspective of time; some of the witnesses relaxed their guard and he managed to coax more information from them than they provided originally. A stalker leaving beer bottles for McLaren to find and a disappearing hitchhiker complicate his work.

A convoluted, layered plot that unfolds in a leisurely style. Hiestand writes about the rural East Midlands of England in scenic detail; it sounds lovely. McLaren is miserable at the loss of his former life and he’s happy immersed in the investigation. He’s not especially likable and probably isn’t meant to be. For fans of British detective fiction and for anyone looking for a new binge read -- there are 11 more books in the series.

·         Publisher: ‎ The Wild Rose Press, Inc. (March 20, 2015)

·         Language: ‎ English

·         Paperback: ‎ 360 pages

·         ISBN-10: ‎ 1628308907

·         ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1628308907

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2022

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.