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Wednesday 25 June 2014

‘About the Children’ by Carol Westron



Published by Pentangle Press,
April 2014.
ISBN:  978-1-4952-32107-7


The discovery of two boys shot dead, both under the age of twelve in a quiet suburban park is a gruelling find. Assigned to the case is Superintendent Tyler head of Saltern's Serious Crimes Team, and with his regular second-in-command on sick leave his new DI is Gill Martin.  There are however five victims, three dead; a woman and the two children, and two wounded, a man and a young woman. As the SOCO team proceed to sift the evidence it becomes a possibility that there were three children present at the time of the attack, and if so where is the third child?

Whilst his team try to establish the train of events, such as who was shot first, Tyler, Gill Martin and his Sergeant Kerry Buller visit the parents. Jasmin and Ian Quantrull confirm that their youngest child Charlie has gone to the park with his two brothers.

As Tyler and his team investigate the lives of the five victims, trying to establish a motive, the questions abound  Were these random killings?  Who were the intended victims?   But the overriding urgency is ‘Where is Charlie’

As complicated as is his job so to is Tyler. An avid reader Tyler has a habit of finding passages from books leaping into his mind as he goes about his job.  Something that helps him make sense of the ugliness he so regularly encounters, but which he keeps locked away from his colleagues.  It will be interesting to learn more of Tyler.

Complex and compelling this is a fascinating mystery  and even as the layers of the lives of both victims and family members are stripped away, as the investigation progresses you will still be eagerly turning the pages to see whodunit.  A marvelous second book, I look forward to the next. Most highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Hayes

Carol Westron is a successful short story writer and a Creative Writing teacher.  She is the moderator for the cosy/historical crime panel, The Deadly Dames.  Her crime novels are set both in contemporary and Victorian times.  The Terminal Velocity of Cats is the first in her Scene of Crimes novels, was published July 2013

www.carolwestron.com


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