‘The Quiet Woman’ by Priscilla Masters

Published by Severn House,
2 July 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-4483-1309-9 (HB)

Nurse Florence Shaw is part of a busy practice at her local doctors’ surgery, dealing with cases that do not require a doctor or, if she thinks it is necessary, sending them on for a doctor’s consultation. There are two regular patients who both worry Florence, although for very different reasons. Ryan Wood is a young man who claims to be trying to give up smoking, although Florence has doubts about his determination to do so. Ryan has had a disrupted childhood and has often had to act as carer for his alcoholic mother and Florence suspects he is on the fringes of criminality; nevertheless, she has a soft spot for him. The other recurring patient is one that Florence is really concerned about: Christine Clay is a woman in her sixties, who is continually making appointments to complain of a number of vague and unrelated symptoms, such as headaches, indigestion and insomnia. Florence has requested the doctor to send Christine for a large number of tests, all of which have confirmed that Christine is not suffering from any serious underlying condition. The thing that most worries and annoys Florence is that Christine never attends an appointment by herself. She is always accompanied by her husband, Richard, a severe man who insists on answering all the questions Florence asks his wife and often appears impatient, even despising, of his wife’s symptoms. Florence is convinced that Richard Clay is dominating his downtrodden, submissive wife. She requests Christine’s doctor to put her on the waiting list for psychological assessment and treatment but one day Christine arrives at the surgery alone and seems different in her manner than she usually does. Soon after this strange departure from their normal routine, Christine and Richard are found in their home suffering from a drug overdose. Richard is unconscious and is transported to hospital and survives but Christine dies.

The official verdict is that Christine believed she had cancer and decided to kill herself rather than die in agony and Richard elected to die with her. However, Florence cannot believe that the couple had really agreed upon a suicide pact. Nothing that she observed in their relationship makes her able to accept that Richard would kill himself rather than live without Christine. She is also worried about her own position, especially when she discovers that the couple’s daughter is an investigative journalist who specialises in highlighting failures in the NHS. She turns up, ostensibly to care for her father, but she makes it clear that she is going to probe into the reason why her mother did not receive appropriate treatment for her fixation that she had cancer. Florence knows that neither Christine nor Richard had ever mentioned concerns about cancer, but she also is aware that nurses are an easy target for accusations of causing harm by carelessness.

Florence’s personal life is also growing more complicated than it has been for some time. Her ex-husband, Mark, a detective sergeant, had left her for a much younger woman but now he is about to become a father again and shows signs of regretting his folly in leaving Florence. However, she has no desire to accept him back. In fact, Florence is starting a relationship with another detective, DC William Summers, and despite feeling some nervousness at starting the dating game for the first time in many years, she is happy.

Florence is determined to probe into Christine’s death as well as trying to discover what trouble Ryan is getting up to with his newly acquired criminal associates. However, the more Florence discovers about Christine Clay the more it becomes apparent that there are many secrets behind the meek facade that this quiet woman presented to the world.

The Quiet Woman is the second book in the series featuring Florence Shaw. It is a fascinating novel with an interesting plot and a delightful and thoroughly engaging protagonist. This an excellent read which I recommend.
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Reviewer: Carol Westron

Priscilla Masters was born in Halifax, and brought up in South Wales, one of seven multi-racial children adopted by an orthopaedic surgeon and his Classics graduate wife. Priscilla trained as a registered nurse in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham. She moved to Staffordshire in the 1970s, had an antiques business for a while and two sons. She started writing in the 1980s in response to an aunt asking her what she was going to do with her life! Winding up the Serpent was her first Joanna Piercy story, published in 1995.  Although that series is still continuing the latest Crooked Street published 2016, she has also written several medical standalones and a new series featuring coroner Martha Gunn, set in Shrewsbury. Her latest book is An Imperfect Truth, a psychological thriller featuring Dr Claire Roget who is a forensic psychiatrist who has some very unpredictable patients. It is set in Stoke on Trent.

http://www.priscillamasters.co.uk/ 

Carol Westron is a successful author and a Creative Writing teacher.  Her crime novels are set both in contemporary and Victorian times.  Her first book The Terminal Velocity of Cats was published in 2013. Since then, she has since written 8 further mysteries. Carol recently gave an interview to Mystery People. interview

www.carolwestron.com
To read a review of Carol latest book click on the title
Death and the Dancing Snowman