‘In Harm’s Way’ by Judith Cutler

Published by Joffe Books,
24 May 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-83526590-1 (PB)
Originally Published 24 March 2008 as
Still Waters

Simon Gates has recently taken up the post of Deputy Chief Constable in the Kent County Constabulary.  Deputy Chief Superintendent Fran Harman not only knows him but was also his line manager before he left Kent some twenty-five years earlier.  Gates has enjoyed a stellar career, and Fran is ambivalent about his return; he was and still is a closed book, and Fran wonders what the “new broom” plans to do to make his mark in his current role.

An altogether different personality is Sergeant Jim Champion.  Jim had been Fran’s supervisor and mentor when she first moved into the Criminal Investigation Department.  He eschewed the greasy pole of promotion while those he had trained, like Fran, moved up the ranks.  She still respects and admires her old teacher, though, and when Jim shares his concerns about a recent violent death, she takes notice.  Ten days earlier, a man called Alec Minton fell from the fifth floor of an upmarket hotel in the seaside resort of Hythe.  Investigators have decided that he committed suicide, but Jim isn’t convinced and his concerns prompt Fran to make a few discreet enquiries of her own.  Then she comes across a case of murder dating back several years. The victim’s body has never been found but two men are currently serving prison sentences for the crime.  As she continues her scrutiny of the cold case, some of Fran’s colleagues become rattled.  The question is, why? And just how far will they go to stop her from finding out the truth?

The novel’s tight plot and sub plots weave together to produce a multi-layered and unpredictable thriller populated by characters who are colourful, credible and sometimes inscrutable. No one could accuse Fran Harman of being a shrinking violet, yet even she, now older and menopausal, is judged on received orthodoxies that write off women of a certain age. The novel treats such issues seriously but with a commendably light touch alongside the intriguing and sometimes shocking investigation into Minton’s unexplained death. The book also explores the domestic circumstances that concern Fran when she is off duty. Her relationship with fiancée Mark is relatively new and they are still flitting between their respective homes. This delicate arrangement is threatened when Sammie, Mark’s daughter, asks for her father’s help and he finds himself dealing with conflicting responsibilities. These transitions and overlaps between home life and professional duty are deftly balanced and add to the tension as well as the realism of the book.

In Harm’s Way, explores themes that are as relevant today as they were in 2009 when the novel was first published as Cold Pursuit. This, the third of the Fran Harman Mysteries, can be read perfectly well as a stand-alone novel.

Carefully crafted characterisation within a complex, often chilling, narrative make In Harm’s Way a fascinating and highly enjoyable read.
------
Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent

Judith Cutler was born in the Black Country, just outside Birmingham, later moving to the Birmingham suburb of Harborne. Judith started writing while she was at the then Oldbury Grammar School, winning the Critical Quarterly Short Story prize with the second story she wrote. She subsequently read English at university. It was an attack of chickenpox caught from her son that kick-started her writing career. One way of dealing with the itch was to hold a pencil in one hand, a block of paper in the other - and so she wrote her first novel. This eventually appeared in a much-revised version as Coming Alive, published by Severn House. Judith has eight series. The first two featured amateur sleuth Sophie Rivers (10 books) and Detective Sergeant Kate Power (6 Books). Then came Josie Wells, a middle-aged woman with a quick tongue, and a love of good food, there are two books, The Food Detective and The Chinese Takeout. The Lina Townsend books are set in the world of antiques and there are seven books in this series. There are three books featuring Tobias Campion set in the Regency period, and her series featuring Chief Superintendent Fran Harman (6 books), and Jodie Welsh, Rector’s wife and amateur sleuth. Her more recently a series feature a head teacher Jane Cowan (3 books). Judith has also written three standalone’s Staging Death, Scar Tissue, and Death In Elysium. Her new series is set in Victorian times featuring Matthew Rowsley. Death’s Long Shadow is the third book in this series.  

http://www.judithcutler.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.