‘Delivering Lazarus’ by Carol Westron

Published by Pentangle Press,
26 October 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-91755501-2 (PB)

Annie Evans is stunned when she sees some paintings by Chris Harland. The nineteen-year-old has skills that would merit a place on her course at Galmouth Art College.  There’s just one problem - he is currently on remand and awaiting trial for murder. The college has an outreach programme though, and Annie decides to visit the young artist in prison.  Chris is no angel and is candid about his misdemeanours, but he insists he has been set up when it comes to the murder charge. 

The lecturer decides to try to help Chris develop his talent, but before she can do that, she needs to convince two people.  The first is Neil Walder, her head of department, and the second is her husband Rick, a Detective Inspector with Galmouth Police.  Rick’s been on prolonged sick leave but will instinctively want to avoid Annie’s association with a known felon, not only for her safety, but also because of the implications as he prepares to return to duty.  Knowing it will not be easy, Annie nevertheless presses on, determined to champion Chris as an artist and ensure that he has a chance to put his past behind him. By doing so, she places herself, and those she cares for, in jeopardy.

The novel explores domestic and work relationships through the perspectives of the married couple at its heart. Annie and Rick, through their contrasting points of view, provide balance and empathy as the story unfolds. Both are strong characters who inspire empathy as their respective fears and flaws are revealed. Similarly, the vulnerabilities of the book’s younger characters are presented with understanding as they negotiate, sometimes painfully, their early adult years in an increasingly convoluted society. Drug dependence, homelessness and domestic abuse are treated with sensitivity whilst exposing the damage they inflict on those who encounter or endure such predicaments. 

These gritty themes are set against the gentle humour and compassion that Annie’s character injects into the narrative.  Indeed, as the title suggests, Delivering Lazarus is ultimately a tale about hope.  It begins with Annie who, whilst she is not immune from the vagaries of the world, advocates relentlessly for others. When those she encounters during the story find a way through their difficulties to confound the naysayers, it inspires optimism. 

Delivering Lazarus is the second in Carol Westron’s Galmouth Mysteries series and marks the welcome return of Annie and Rick Evans who made their first appearance in The Fragility of Poppies. The novel works perfectly as a stand-alone.

A story that is engaging, thrilling and heart-warming. Highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent

Carol Westron is a successful author and a Creative Writing teacher.  Her crime novels re 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 

Dot Marshall-Gent worked in the emergency services for twenty years first as a police officer, then as a paramedic and finally as a fire control officer before graduating from King’s College, London as a teacher of English in her mid-forties.  She completed a M.A. in Special and Inclusive Education at the Institute of Education, London and now teaches part-time and writes mainly about educational issues.  Dot sings jazz and country music and plays guitar, banjo and piano as well as being addicted to reading mystery and crime fiction.