Part of Dalziel & Pascoe, book 3
First published 1982
Detective Sergeant Peter Pascoe drives from Yorkshire to Thornton Lacey for what should be a pleasant reunion with old friends. Instead of warm greetings, he discovers three bodies and a brutal crime scene. The local police have their sights set on one of Pascoe's oldest friends as the prime suspect. Pascoe finds himself caught between competing loyalties and professional obligations. His superiors demand his immediate return to Yorkshire, while the village investigators pursue what he believes is the wrong theory entirely. Working outside his official authority, Pascoe must navigate the investigation carefully. He suspects the real motive runs deeper than the surface evidence suggests, hidden in the complex emotional undercurrents that drive people to violence. The morning drive that brought him to this quiet village has pulled him into a web where friendship, duty, and justice collide.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, detective
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: competing-loyalties, fish-out-of-water
Setting: Thornton Lacey, Yorkshire
Period: 20th-century
320 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Dell