‘A Restless Evil’ by Ann Granger

Published by Headline,
13 May 2002.
ISBN: 978-0-7472-7472-X (HB)

It was Meredith and Alan are house hunting, but so far cannot seem to agree on any house, which situation look set to continue when Meredith views the Vicarage in Lower Stovey. Alan Markby, enthusiastically surveying the large garden, recalls his visit to the house some twenty years earlier when investigating his first major case as an Inspector, and one that still rankles as the rapist dubbed ‘The Potato Man’ was never caught.

When a hiker discovers some bones in the nearby wood, Alan Markby has a feeling that they could relate to that earlier case.

Meanwhile, in an attempt to make some effort to see the Vicarage in a better light, Meredith returns to Lower Stovey to make another inspection of the house. Being early for her appointment she pays a visit to the local pub, which does not enhance her day, and the, still killing time she visits the local church, and there discovers a body.

Whilst investigating the murder in the church, the bones found in the wood are dated as being in the region of twenty years old, and while Alan has a feeling that the two cases must somehow be related, on the face of it there is nothing to toe these two cases together.

Ann Granger is truly brilliant at creating a village atmosphere. Particularly, one which spans generations. Like most villages a high proportion of the inhabitants are related dither by kin or marriage. As the story progresses, we learn of the uneasy relationships between adults who were at school together, the family secrets, loyalties and unlikely alliances, which all weave together to provide a fascinating mystery.

This is the fourteenth book in the series and as with all Ann Granger’s earlier books, I could not put this one down until I reached the satisfying conclusion. That does not of course extend to Meredith and Alans’s house hunting.
Most highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett

Ann Granger was born in Portsmouth where she was a pupil at the then Northern Grammar School for Girls and went from there to London University where she achieved a BA in Modern Languages (French with German). After a period spent first teaching English in France and then working in the Visa Section of British Embassies around the world. She met her husband, who was also working for the British Embassy, in Prague, and together they received postings to places as far apart as Munich and Lusaka. She is the author of the Mitchell and Markby Mysteries, the Fran Varady series and more recently the Lizzie Martin mystery series. She lives in Bicester, near Oxford.

https://www.anngranger.net/