Part of Inspector Banks, book 8
First published 2004
Sixteen year old Deborah Harrison never makes it home from school. Her friend Megan glimpses a shadowy male figure through the evening fog as they part ways on the bridge, but the thick mist makes certainty impossible. Deborah's body turns up in the local cemetery, sending shockwaves through the affluent St Mary's district of Eastvale. Chief Constable Jimmy Riddle demands quick results from Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks, especially since the victim's father is a powerful industrialist. Detective Inspector Barry Stott's work leads to an arrest that satisfies the community and the brass. Banks refuses to accept the obvious solution. He digs into a web of suspects: a vicar who lied about his location during the murder and faces accusations of sexual harassment, the vicar's unfaithful wife, a teacher hiding disturbing secrets, a vengeful ex girlfriend, and a violent teenager who had threatened Deborah's family. The Harrison family harbors its own dark truths. Each revelation reshapes the case, forcing Banks to choose between his career and the truth.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: dark, emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: Eastvale, St Mary's
Period: contemporary
400 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Avon
Content warnings: death, murder