‘Dead Man’s Shoes’ by Marion Todd

Published by Canelo London,
9 January 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-80436217-4 (PB)

Dead Man’s Shoes starts with a request for DI Clare Mackay to help capture the Chainlink Choker who has already killed five gay men over a wide area in northern England. Intelligence indicates that the Choker will target Clare’s patch in St Andrews, Scotland over the coming weekend. Clare and her team combine with officers from Dundee to try to trap the killer who is thought to be a painter/decorator. They adopt a two-pronged approach: checking the numbers of all vans crossing the border from England, and surveilling secluded areas around St Andrews where the Choker might take his next victim to kill him.

Sure enough, a man is found dead at the side of a country road.  The dead man is Theo, a member of the Glancy family, some of whom, including his brother Danny, are already known to the police.  When Clare and one of her sergeants visit Theo’s mother, Ruby, they find Val Docherty has got there first. Clare has been trying to bring Val to justice for all manner of crimes for several years, but so far Val has always wriggled out of any charges brought against her. Now it seems that Val is involved in Retro’s, a local club managed by Ruby Glancy with her son Danny running the bar.

Clare is not convinced that Theo was killed by the Choker. Theo had last been seen alive walking away from Retro’s wearing his brother’s jacket.  Had he been killed by mistake instead of Danny, maybe as part of a drugs turf war? The search for the Choker quickly becomes entangled with a complicated investigation involving members of the Glancy family. The pace intensifies when Danny disappears, and another young man is abducted and badly beaten.

Reading Dead Man’s Shoes is like doing a cat’s cradle.  It starts with a couple of simple moves but rapidly develops into an intricate pattern of threads. Fortunately, the interrelated plots are clearly outlined and easy to follow. Clare Mackay is a very humane detective who gets on well with her subordinates.  On the personal side, she is having to reconcile herself to the fact that her beloved father is ageing and will in future need supportg instead of being the constant support he has always provided for her. Neither time nor energy allow for proper discussion of her future with her now live-in partner, DCI Alastair Gibson. This is a pity because he has been offered a new job which will almost certainly impinge on their current lifestyle.  I fear we will have to wait for the next book to discover how this issue gets resolved.  Overall, a very readable story written with good local knowledge and a wide variety of characters who interact well together even when arguing about really important issues like the correct order to add custard, jelly and fruit to a trifle.

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Reviewer: Angela Crowther.

Marion Todd studied music and worked for many years as a piano teacher and jobbing accompanist. A spell as a hotel lounge pianist provided rich fodder for her writing and she began experimenting with a variety of genres. Early success saw her winning first prize in the Family Circle Magazine Short Story for Children national competition and she followed this up by writing short stories and articles for her local newspaper. Marion has also worked as a college lecturer, plantswoman and candle-maker and now is a full-time writer, penning the DI Clare Mackay series of crime fiction novels set in St Andrews. Marion lives now in North East Fife, overlooking the magnificent River Tay. 

Angela Crowther is a retired scientist.  She has published many scientific papers but, as yet, no crime fiction.  In her spare time Angela belongs to a Handbell Ringing group, goes country dancing and enjoys listening to music, particularly the operas of Verdi and Wagner.