Inspector Andy Horton’s holiday peace is shattered when stepping out across an abandoned golf course on the Isle of Wight on a cold, grey January, he finds himself facing a distraught young woman with a gun in her hand leaning over a corpse in one of the discarded bunkers.   When she professes to be the dead man’s sister and psychic, Horton’s old adversary, DCI Birch, is convinced she is mentally disturbed and the killer, but Horton is not so sure.  He feels a strange affinity towards the woman, and a sense of recognition even though he’s convinced they’ve never met.  When it’s revealed that the dead man was working on a top-level environmental project on behalf of the European Commission, Horton is urged by Superintendent Uckfield to go undercover. His mission is to trap a clever killer, but he soon finds his own life in danger... Then another death changes everything.  With no clear suspects, and a confusion of possible motives, a frustrating, complex case is complicated still further by Horton’s growing feelings and concern for the woman.  As he goes in search of the truth, aided by Sergeant Cantelli, Horton uncovers a web of intrigue that ripples down the years, and which someone is determined should never be revealed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

'This is another solid entry in a consistently well written series. Like Ed McBain, Rowson works many subtle variations on the procedural formula (including very interesting relationships between Andy and a couple of his superiors). A definite winner in the crowded field of British procedurals.'

Booklist

April 2010

 

'This excellent police procedural is the seventh mystery by Pauline Rowson and opens with Inspector Andy Horton enjoying a long overdue two-week holiday on the Isle of Wight.  

'The author is very clever in her manipulation of the plot and the red herrings she suggests, that send your mind racing in one direction until perhaps Andy sees a photo accidentally, which triggers a different line of enquiry for him and you momentarily forget your earlier conclusions. There are a multiplicity of characters both in the police, victims and potential killers which I found a little confusing but it all turned out all right in the end. I must admit though, I had no idea who the killer was until the end and it was a big surprise.

'Pauline Rowson emphasises the marine aspect in her novels, her hero Andy Horton lives on a boat and is always going back and forward over the Solent... It was very interesting reading a police procedural again with all the interaction between the different detectives and the very tight plotting was very impressive and make me want to look out for further books by this author. A very enjoyable read.

Terry Halligan, England, Eurocrime
March 2010