Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: The Comforts of Home by Susan Hill

The Comforts of Home by Susan Hill (Harry N. Abrams, 2018) is the ninth book in the Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler series. Serrailler is part of the police force in Lafferton, a fictional cathedral city in the south of England. In this particular entry Serrailler wakes up in hospital after suffering severe injuries on the job. He goes on extended leave to an island off the coast of Scotland to recover, where he’s vacationed before. He settles into a quiet life in the village, visiting the local pub, chatting with the neighbors, walking along the coast, until one of the residents disappears and then is found shot. The local police are happy to consult Serrailler, who is glad to find something to occupy his mind.

In the meantime Lafferton is rocked by a serial arsonist, who is doing a great deal of damage. The mother of a young woman who disappeared years earlier begins to insist that the Lafferton police re-activate the case. The man she believes kidnapped and killed her daughter is in prison for the deaths of other women. While the police agree with her, the prosecutor decided there was not enough evidence to try him for this particular crime, which the mother is not willing to accept. The police chief has no staff to spare for a cold case while they are desperate to locate the arsonist, so he collects the files and sends them off to Simon in Scotland to review. The outcomes of his investigations are surprisingly dark.

One of the delights of this series is that each one has a detailed map of Lafferton in the manner of older village mysteries. I enjoyed orienting myself to the town on this first visit and the various locations mentioned in the story. Even with the map I was a little over my head for the first few pages. It’s clear there has been a good deal of character development in the earlier books and probably this is not the best one to start with. Once the actual police work began, my reading smoothed out.

There is a lot about the state of health care in England in this book, which was easy to incorporate between Simon’s injury and his doctor sister’s presence. It’s all quite heartfelt which makes me suspect the author is speaking from experience.

A good contemporary British police procedural with strong character involvement. New readers should start earlier in the series.

·         Hardcover: 336 pages

·         Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (November 20, 2018)

·         Language: English

·         ISBN-10: 1468301462

·         ISBN-13: 978-146830146

Aubrey Hamilton ©2020

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

Lesa's Book Critiques: A Bitter Feast by Deborah Crombie

Lesa's Book Critiques: A Bitter Feast by Deborah Crombie

Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: The Salton Killings by Sally Spencer

The Salton Killings by Sally Spencer (Severn House, 1998) is the first Chief Inspector Woodend title in an impressive collection of 20 books that begin in the late 1950s, when the aftermath of World War II has receded but is still felt. (The Amazon subtitle for this book says it is set in the 1970s but the book makes the late 1950s timing clear in multiple places.) Woodend is a brusque guy from the north of England who has antagonized his superiors in Scotland Yard, earning every out-of-the-way case that comes along. So when the strangled body of a girl is found in a salt pile in a village in Cheshire, off he goes with his newest sergeant.

Woodend’s first act is to locate the nearest village pub, and then he identifies a police cadet who was born in the village and knows the history and gossip for generations back. The village still remembers vividly the murder of a local teenager during World War II, the killer believed to be her American military boyfriend who was not charged due to a lack of evidence. The discovery of two more teenage girls who died since then in what was thought to be accidents makes Woodend think he’s dealing with a serial killer who has been at work for 10 years or longer.

This story is a definitive British police procedural set in a village. The investigation is carefully worked out and logical in its steps, the suspects are everywhere, and misdirection abounds. The characters come into their own as they become accustomed to Woodend’s thought processes and as secrets unfold. The confrontation at the end and the identification of the culprit were as unexpected as could be. Not surprising to me at all that this turned into an extended series. The epilogue is great, worth the read of the book all in itself.

·         Hardcover: 224 pages

·         Publisher: Severn House Publishers; 1st World Ed edition (July 1, 1998)

·         Language: English

·         ISBN-10: 0727853449

·         ISBN-13: 978-0727853448

Aubrey Hamilton ©2019

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

Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: The Funeral Boat by Kate Ellis

The Funeral Boat by Kate Ellis (Minotaur, 2002) is the fourth book featuring Detective Sergeant Wesley Peterson. This is an enduring series, with the 22^nd title scheduled for release in April 2018. Peterson left the turbulence of London for the quiet life of a Devonshire policeman and finds that Devon police can sometimes be given tough problems to solve too. Peterson has a degree in archaeology which is useful in this region rich with ties to the past. Each story in the series invariably has a contemporary whodunit with some kind of link to a misdeed from long ago, resulting in a crime novel that is part historical mystery and part police procedural and, at least in the case of this book, the best of both. Fans of Elly Griffiths’ books about Ruth Galloway are likely to enjoy this series, although it is heavier on police procedure and lighter on romance than Griffiths’.

In this book home invasions are occurring in the isolated farms outside Devon, with the burglars threatening the families with shotguns to keep them at bay as the crooks ransack the houses and make off with the farm vehicles. Wesley and his boss Inspector Gerry Heffernan are called to the latest incident, where the farm owner decided to challenge the thieves and is severely wounded for his trouble.

Then a resident finds a skeleton while excavating his land for drainage. Wesley calls in his university friend who is on an archaeological dig at a nearby church to confirm that it is centuries old and not the body of the former owner who disappeared a few years ago, as Heffernan believes. Back at the police station one of Wesley’s colleagues takes a report from a local bed-and-breakfast owner whose Danish lodger has not returned from her day out. The family of one of the police constables becomes the next target of the home invading crew before Wesley can make much headway on any of these cases. Suddenly the small police force is stretched to the utmost trying to handle this quick crime wave.

Some of the crimes have surprising connections to others. The author ties each thread up efficiently and logically. The best bits of this book include the short excerpts from a diary written by a medieval monk that precede each chapter. The diary documents a raid on the Devon area by the plundering Danes around 1000 A.D., destroying the monk’s church and most of the surrounding community, which sets the context for the centuries-old skeleton.

This book reminded me of another Ellis who based a mystery on the Danish invasions of England in 1144, The Summer of the Danes by Ellis Peters, Brother Cadfael #19.

  

Hardcover: 240 pages 
Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (July 15, 2002) 
Language: English 
ISBN-10: 0312274548 
ISBN-13: 978-0312274542

Aubrey Hamilton © 2018

 

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

Monday With Kaye: "No Mark Upon Her" by Deborah Crombie (Reviewed by Kaye George)

First published almost four years ago, this is the fourteenth book in the series that began with A Share In Death in 1993. For her “Monday With Kaye” segments, Kaye George has also previously reviewed here the next book in the series, The Sound of Broken Glass.

No Mark Upon Her by Deborah Crombie

How nice to step into the world of Gemma and Duncan again! The reader is entering not only the world of the Metropolitan Police of London, but also the world of English sculling. And, along with the police department, the milieu of search dogs and their handlers.

Everything is set in motion when Becca, a Metropolitan Police officer who had a chance at the Olympics in single shell fourteen years ago, decides to stage a comeback and make another try. Her previous attempt at the Games was aborted under mysterious circumstances. Even now, she's training in secret. She's recently divorced from Freddie, but they maintain cordial relations, as far as anyone can tell. Freddie is an unlikely mate for a police officer, as his occupation is a bit shady. Kieran Connolly, former Combat Medical Technician, is a Search and Rescue dog handler and boat builder with a troubled past, but increasingly fond feelings for Tavie, fellow dog handler. Their animals, Finn and Tosh, are great characters. Something is off about Kieran when Becca's body is discovered, but Tavie can't quite figure out what.

Detective Gemma James and her husband, Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid have recently wed in a small ceremony and are the parents of a varied brood. The theme of complicated family affairs runs through the book. Duncan is called in to work the case, but Gemma figures heavily too, of course.

The ends of all the threads are simultaneously tied up and left leading to the next adventure. This is a lovely, satisfying British police procedural with many relationship subplots that lend texture.

Reviewed by Kaye George, Author of Choke, for Suspense Magazine