14 November 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-4087-3262-5 (HB)
Peter Diamond is feeling even grumpier than usual. His boss, Assistant Chief Constable Georgina Dallymore has been dropping ponderous hints about him approaching the age of retirement, allusions that Diamond is determined to ignore because he feels that his life is defined by his job as a senior police officer. To make matters worse, Diamond’s partner, Paloma, has persuaded him to spend his week’s leave visiting Julie Hargreaves, his second-in-command when he first moved to Bath. Julie has now retired from the police service and has moved to live in Somerset. Diamond protests that he does not like the countryside and cannot leave his elderly cat, Raffles, but a lot of his reluctance is due to his recognition of the unpalatable fact that he had not always treated Julie with the support and respect that she deserved. Paloma thinks that Julie has a reason for wanting them to stay with her and suspects that she wishes to ask Diamond’s advice, so she overrides his objections. Soon Paloma, Diamond and Raffles are bound for rural Somerset.
When Diamond meets Julie again, he is shocked to discover that, in the intervening years, she has become blind. She has accepted her disability with courage and composure and lives an independent life, with the aid of her guide dog, Bella. However, Paloma is right that Julie does want Diamond’s advice about a cold case that happened locally. A few years ago, a man was discovered dead in one of the enormous grain silos on the largest farm in the area. He had been fooled by the apparently firm crust on the grain and when it broke, he had sunk in and suffocated. The victim was Roger Miller, and he had been attending a wild party held by the owner of the house and farm, Claudia Priest. She had set up a competition that involved finding the garter she had hidden somewhere on the farm, with the promise of a personal reward for the winner. Claudia claimed that she had not hidden the garter in the silo and said she had put it in the bull pen, but the court did not believe this and convicted her of manslaughter.
Claudia has served half of her sentence and is due to be released, but Julie believes that Claudia had told the truth about where she had left the garter and is still fretting that Claudia was unfairly treated by the investigating officers and the trial judge. Julie also fears that if Claudia returns to the village, she will be made unwelcome by the hostile villagers, because they hated the noise and disruption of her parties and compared her unfavourably with her late father. Mervyn Priest had been regarded as a benefactor because of his altruism and involvement with village activities.
Diamond wants to set Julia’s mind at rest, and, despite his initial scepticism, he becomes intrigued by what had really occurred during that last fateful party. As Paloma points out, this is his first chance to investigate a traditional village mystery, especially irresistible when the village in question is called Baskerville. Roger Miller had lived in Bath and run his art vendor business there, and two other men who attended the party also reside there, so Diamond takes a daytrip back to Bath, hoping that he doesn’t encounter any of his police colleagues. He has already introduced himself to the village as Peter Dee and he continues with the deception as he contacts two surviving players of the game. He finds it difficult to keep the stories straight that he has to tell to persuade people to talk to him and finds it very different to the direct police method of showing his warrant card and demanding to be told facts. He also misses the support of his highly trained team. Nevertheless, he enjoys the freedom from paperwork, regulations and Georgina’s critical gaze.
Back in Baskerville, Diamond steps out of his comfort zone and, by putting himself on the line in several ways that surprise even Diamond himself, he begins to win the respect and liking of many villagers. He continues to investigate, probing deeply into things that happened long before Miller’s death. On the day of a village celebration, Claudia and all the surviving players in the drama assemble in Baskerville, and Diamond discovers just how dangerous it can be to investigate as a lone operative, without his team to watch his back.
Against the Grain is the twenty-second novel featuring Peter Diamond and, sadly, it is also the last. Like its predecessors it is a superb novel, with excellent characterisation and a fascinating multi-layered plot. Diamond is a grumpy but engaging protagonist who continually surprises by his willingness to get involved, and Paloma is delightful as his loving but clear-sighted partner. Although the title might be interpreted as a reference to the victim’s hideous death in a grain silo, it is also an old carpenter’s saying about the problems of sanding a piece of wood against its grain, which is exactly what Diamond is doing as he teaches himself to investigate in a different, solitary way.
Against the Grain is a
compelling and positive farewell to one of the most iconic fictional detectives
of the last thirty years. It is a page-turner, which I wholeheartedly recommend.
.-------
Reviewer: Carol Westron
www.carolwestron.com
To read a review of Carol latest book click on the title
Delivering Lazarus
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