My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

The woman must think she buttoned up the back.

 

At the end of the short affair, she’d come out of it with her soul stained with self-loathing and the knowledge that sometimes the open ocean was better than the wrong port in a storm.

 

Tolerance and diversity extend to the little things in life. It isn’t just about colour or gender or sexuality or religion. It’s about everyone being allowed to do things their way. If we can’t be tolerant of other people’s choices, how can we be expected to be tolerant of the things they have no choice over?’

 

He had the gift of saying everything while he said nothing, sharing a secret while keeping it safe.

My Review:

 

Jo Allen has conjured another twisty and clever conundrum that taunted and teased my curious and cynical nature. She has strong word voodoo and a massive top-shelf vocabulary that keeps the little pea in my brain purring. Her latest missive was a busy and absorbing police procedural with multiple storylines involving family drama, romance, workplace tension, unresolved ex-issues, and a confounding killing spree in a Cumbrian village that kept the detectives hopping. There were no shortages of relationship and homophobic issues or suspects, although the exact cause for the odd selection of victims remained elusive.

I had devised several creative and elaborate theories and while I had it narrowed down to the correct suspect and method, I erred in their motivation. So, not a total win, but more than a partial victory.  I still scored an entertaining read that also taught me a new Scottish phrase for my word list with “buttoned up the back,” which Mr. Google tells me means being thought a fool.