Published 26 October 2015.Kindle Edition
When schoolteacher Laura Scott is found murdered and
half naked Detective Joe Rafferty is relieved to be pulled away from the chore
assigned to him by his Ma – sort out your two brothers Patrick Sean and Mickey
who are at war with each other owing to some ‘stuff’ having gone missing from
their lock-up. Each is accusing the other. Unable to get to the bottom of the
problem Rafferty gets them to agree to meet up later.
When Rafferty
arrives at the crime scene in a field he is cold, tired and disgruntled, the
sight of his Sergeant Llewellyn warmly attired yet still retaining the elegance
of someone who has just stepped out from the pages of a fashion magazine does
little to improve his mood. His mood
slides further downhill when his Ma rings to check on the progress with his
brothers. Hearing that he has agreed to
meet them later in a pub does not impress her. He assures her he will make sure
they don’t drink too much and start punching each other.
Further misery
awaits him when on returning to the station he learns that Superintendent
Bradley ‘requests’ his immediate presence. So far he has managed to keep his
family’s little skirmishes with the law under wraps but…
‘Porn’s flooding the
market’, Bradley informed him, and the Chief Constable’s granddaughter stars in
one of them. Locating the DVDs and
destroying them takes priority over everything, Bradley informs him. ‘Even the murder? asks Rafferty, and enjoys
watching Bradley - always conscious of his image - struggling not to say
yes. This is between you and me, says
Bradley, it must go no further. Rafferty
stops himself from mentioning YouTube.
Concentrating on the
murder Rafferty visits Elmhurst Comprehensive to learn more about Laura Scott.
As Rafferty talks to her colleagues and students it seems Laura Scott was all
things to all people.
The meeting with his
brothers discloses that they have branched out from their petty crimes, and the
missing stock is in fact porn DVDs. For Rafferty this couldn’t be worse
news. He has now to find a murderer, and
the thief who stole his brothers stock, which doubtless included the DVD
featuring the CC granddaughter, and make it disappear before it goes viral and Rafferty’s job goes down the proverbial.
If all this wasn’t
stressful enough Abra, his wife is pregnant and Rafferty seems to find it
necessary to telephone her every thirty minutes or so.
Whilst the
investigation into the murder seems to get more complicated with each new fact
they come across, much of the enjoyment of the story is, as in previous books,
the relationship between Rafferty and his sergeant, the fastidious Welshman
Dafyd Llewellyn, a staunch Methodist who also happens to be Abra’s cousin. Rafferty has been wondering why Llewellyn
doesn’t seem to be making any moves to study for his Inspector’s exam. He would have supposed that Llewellyn’s wife
the ambitious Maureen, would have been keen for him to get ahead. Dafyd remarks
that he is considering studying Greek history, but Maureen wants them both to
attend a course on Classical Mythology.
Rafferty nods sagely and ponders on the need to understand the real
Laura Scott in order to unmask her killer.
An intriguing
mystery with marvellous characterisation and fun dialogue. Recommended.
------
Reviewer: Lizzie
Sirett
Geraldine Evans is a British writer of police procedurals that contain
a lot of humour and family drama. Her15-strong Rafferty & Llewellyn series
features DI Joe Rafferty, a London-Irish, working-class, lapsed Catholic, who
comes from a family who think - if he must be a policeman - he might at least
have the decency to be a bent one. Her 2-strong Casey & Catt series
features DCI 'Will' Casey, a serious-minded, responsible policeman, whose 'the
Sixties never died', irresponsible, drug-taking, hippie parents, pose
particular problems of the embarrassing kind.
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