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DEAD IN THE WATER
by Aline Templeton
Hodder Paperbacks, February 2010
384 pages
7.99 GBP
ISBN: 0340976969


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Twenty years ago, a body was found on the rocks of a remote shoreline in Scotland. The girl's hands had been tied and she appeared to have been thrown from the cliffs above the sea. To make matters worse, she was pregnant, and the local rumour mill worked overtime speculating on the identity of the father.

DI Marjorie Fleming's father was the first on the scene, and made some strange judgement calls in his handling of the case, so when Fleming is asked to take on the so-called 'cold case' two decades later, she has distinctly mixed feelings on the subject, even though her father is now dead as well.

Her investigations soon have to take something of a back seat when a spate of knife crimes springs up to trouble a normally quiet Scottish village. Tensions between a bunch of Polish builders and the locals soon spill over into violence but everyone concerned seems keen to avoid the involvement of the police. Then an attack on a local celebrity complicates matters further and, at the same time, Fleming has to juggle the demands of her job with her responsibilities as a mother. As ever, something has to give way.

This is the first time I've encountered Templeton's books and although I had to make two attempts to get into the story, I think my first false start was more to do with trying to read late at night rather than as a result of any failing on the part of the author and, on my second time of trying, I was sucked quite quickly into the story and was glad I'd given the book another chance. Templeton's characters are all well-drawn, particularly aging film star, Sylvia Lascelles, and bored starlet, Jaki Johnson. Templeton's police officers come over as real people and did a good job of convincing me that the author knows her stuff. Less convincing was the title of a fictional police series that serves as the hook to hang part of the action on. Playfair's Patch sounds too contrived for my liking, but apart from that minor criticism, this is a book I'm happy to recommend. The plot was serviceable and the explanations at the end were satisfying without too much in the way of lengthy exposition.

§ Linda Wilson is a writer, and retired solicitor, with an interest in archaeology and cave art, who now divides her time between England and France.

Reviewed by Linda Wilson, September 2010

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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