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Now here's a strange thing . . . A scriptwriter who can't quite grasp point of view. Once you get past this fact, though, Alison Bruce's debut novel is really rather intriguing. CAMBRIDGE BLUE oozes menace. This isn't the Cambridge of dreaming spires (or is that Oxford?) and punting on the river. This is the working city with dark alleyways and drab flats. DC Gary Goodhew is a rookie detective. He's first on the scene when the body of Lorna Spence is found, and finally gets his chance to work on a murder investigation. Lorna's boyfriend and boss Richard Moran insists that everyone loved her. But Goodhew's relentless probing brings a number of characters out of the woodwork who claim that she wasn't the angel she's claimed to be. Moran's two sisters, Alice and Jackie, appear to have secrets of their own. And Goodhew finds himself investigating a former classmate who is linked with Lorna. Bruce has introduced an intriguing new character – and then not done much with him. The book flags two-thirds of the way through when the action is telegraphed rather too transparently, and we move away from Goodhew, who appears to have secrets of his own. Frustratingly, though, Bruce doesn't get below the surface of Goodhew's eccentricity. It's almost like we've met him before, although the blurb insists this is a first novel. There's so much more that needed some sort of acknowledgement and exploration, including the relationship with his grandmother and how he got to where he is. The snag is that the maverick cliché in crime fiction is just that – and Goodhew heads off into the sunset alone rather too often. It doesn't feel plausible in a character feeling his way into a new job. And it's not helped by the fact that his colleagues are all on the under-drawn side. CAMBRIDGE BLUE has its faults, but its grit and lack of sentimentality makes me want to watch out for anything else Bruce may write. And Goodhew has the feel of a series character with possibilities.
Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, January 2009
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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