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Lloyd and Hill are both Detective Chief Inspectors. Judy Hill is in her eighth month of pregnancy and Lloyd isn't sure he wants to be a father again, but he's being close-mouthed as usual about his preferences. They both go to a rehearsal of the local theatre group, and are called in to read parts because so many of the company haven't shown. The local doctor, Carl Bignall, comes in late, and while he is rehearsing, Lloyd takes a phone call. Bignall's beautiful, rich, young, neurotic wife has died, apparently of suffocation. Ryan Chester is caught flogging some of the Christmas presents that have been stolen from the Bignall home and his young half-brother, Dexter, has been beaten. The Bignall's neighbor, ex-policeman Eric Watson, has said that he saw a young black boy wearing a green jacket running through the back alleys. The description fits Dexter and Ryan's fingerprints are found in suspicious places. But Lloyd doesn't believe that Ryan is guilty. He's a petty thief but not a vicious murderer. There are too many suspects. But Lloyd, by using his investigative skills and intuition, works through all the problems. There is also the unspoken relationship between the police and the local bad guys, as anyone who has ever read of seen Rumpole of the Bailey knows. A petty thief may nick your TV but he won't kill you to get it, so both Lloyd and Hill know that neither Ryan nor Dexter would have killed Estelle Bignall. But they aren't too sure of the neighbor, a shady ex-cop, or the doctor's partner who apparently was having it off with Estelle, or was someone else responsible for the break in and murder. We have followed DCI Lloyd and Judy Hill through 10 other fine police procedurals set in the imaginary town of Stansfield in the north of England. The characters relationships have changed and grown, as have the characters themselves. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next book in the series.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, October 2002
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