Other People’s Houses by Clare Mackintosh, the
third book in the Detective Constable Ffion Morgan and Detective Sergeant Leo
Brady police procedural series, will be released in mid-September by
Sourcebooks Landmark. Morgan is a member of the Wales police force and Brady is
part of the Cheshire constabulary. Since lawbreakers rarely observe
geographical boundaries, the law enforcement offices along the national borders
often collaborate on what turns out to be the same crime.
True to the title, the story
is all about houses that belong to other people. Morgan has found a house to
buy, finally, but her real estate agent suddenly is not responding to her calls
to set up a date to complete the transaction. She discovers that the property
is still being shown and eventually she learns her agent has in fact accepted a
higher offer for the place she thought was hers. Morgan is under notice to
leave her current home and is scrambling to find a place to go. She is understandably
unhappy with real estate agents in general when she is called to the scene of
an overturned kayak with a drowned woman who turns out to be one of a group of estate
agents who had been celebrating a bit too much over the weekend.
Brady is investigating a puzzling
string of burglaries in a wealthy community known as The Hill. In addition,
Brady’s ex-wife, with whom he has a strained relationship, lives nearby and is
desperate to become part of the in crowd on The Hill. Her attempts to imitate
the high-end décor of these houses with cheap substitutes and designer
knockoffs and to ingratiate herself with the residents are pathetic.
The third case that is
unfolding in the background has been re-opened after doubt was cast on the
verdict delivered 10 years previously. The cold homicide case is receiving an enormous
amount of publicity. Morgan is entranced by a podcast that is following the
case and listens to each new episode as quickly as it is dropped.
A very good read. Smooth
pacing, a cleverly constructed plot with plenty of suspects in the murder, a
frustrating lack of leads on the burglaries, and an ingenious resolution hidden
in plain sight, my favorite kind. Using social media to progress the third
storyline is a novel approach. The questionable antics of some real estate
agents, the linguistic challenges of the Welsh language, and wealthy mean girl
behavior get a full airing here.
I especially like the dual
jurisdiction setup, it gives the reader a look at two contrasting ways of doing
the same thing. Plus it adds another element of conflict to the story as the
law enforcement officers have to meet the requirements of their respective commands
while collaborating with their peers across the border which sometimes demands
negotiation. Other series use this technique effectively. The Posadas County
mysteries by Steven Havill are set along the border of the United States and
Mexico and the county law officers often work with the Mexican police. And in
his Chickasaw Nation series, Kris Lackey partners a Lighthorse policeman of the
Chickasaw Nation with an Oklahoma sheriff’s deputy. In Dead Man’s Mistress,
David Housewright used the differences in gun laws in the United States and in
Canada to get his detective out of a tight situation.
Fans of police procedurals will want to look at this series. Recommended.
·
Publisher:
Sourcebooks Landmark
·
Publication
date: September 16, 2025
·
Language:
English
·
Print
length: 368 pages
·
ISBN-10:
1728296544
·
ISBN-13:
978-1728296548
Amazon Associate Purchase
Link: https://amzn.to/41MZrzp
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2025
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
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