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AMONG THE DEPARTED
by Vicki Delany
Poisoned Pen Press, May 2011
282 pages
$24.95
ISBN: 1590589246


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

It is pure happenstance that the body of Mr Nowak is found at all. A search and rescue dog stumbles across his remains after finding a lost toddler. Mr Nowak walked away from his family fifteen years ago and hasn't been heard of since. This has played havoc with the family members left behind: his wife, his daughter, and his son.

Constable Molly Smith is part of the investigation today into Mr Nowak's death. Fifteen years ago she was Moonlight Smith, best friend to Nicky Nowak, and present at the Nowak house for breakfast the morning Mr. Nowak walked away. This makes the investigation uncomfortable for Molly on several levels.

Molly and her supervisor Sergeant John Williams rework the case from square one. This requires that they re-interview everyone involved. Mrs. Nowak hasn't been herself since the day her husband left; she's not a lot of help. Her son is an angry young artist. This complicates the investigation because Winter's wife Eliza has just signed the son to do a show at her gallery. Kyle doesn't want to talk about his father. Nicky, the daughter, refuses to believe anything bad about her father. She's become a bad girl - sleeping with married men for their blackmail potential. Obviously she doesn't want to spend much time with the police. This will not be an easy case for Molly or for Sgt Williams.

Molly's mother is still the hippie she's been all her life. This causes Molly some uncomfortable moments, particularly when someone in her chain of command, a most unlikely person, becomes romantically involved with Lucky Smith. Will this impede the investigation in any way? Will it cause career problems for Molly, or just peer problems?

Delany has a good grasp of what is required in a police procedural. Her characters are believable. The plot works very well; the motive is obvious fairly early on but the killer remains hidden for quite a while. It isn't surprising that the motive was not known fifteen years ago; it is a bit surprising that nobody picks up on it sooner in the current investigation. Fans of Delany's other works will surely enjoy this one.

§ P.J. Coldren lives in northern lower Michigan where she reads and reviews widely across the mystery genre when she isn't working in her local hospital pharmacy.

Reviewed by P.J. Coldren, September 2011

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