This month's crime fiction offerings include "Not a Word" by Linwood Barclay, "Claim Your Dead" by Lucie Whitehouse, and "The Unbelieved" by Vikki Petraitis, each presenting complex mysteries with unexpected turns.
"Not a Word" by Linwood Barclay opens with a shocking discovery: Reece Chartwell finds his parents dead from gunshot wounds, initially suspecting a murder-suicide. However, closer examination of the scene by police reveals a twist—the woman found dead is not his mother. This revelation sets the stage for a narrative described as a "Shakespearean tragedy of secrets and lies," exploring themes of infidelity, potential murder, and the secrets of a father's past involvement with a pharmaceutical company. The story is set on the outskirts of Toronto.
In Lucie Whitehouse's "Claim Your Dead," Detective DCI Robin Lyons investigates the perplexing murder of Heather Pethick, a young Cornish farmer's wife found dead in a Birmingham back street. The circumstances are baffling, as Heather's husband believed she was traveling to London. The investigation uncovers CCTV footage of Heather in a heated discussion with another woman shortly before her death. This second woman subsequently goes missing, deepening the mystery.
Vikki Petraitis's "The Unbelieved" introduces Senior Detective Antigone Pollard and is the first in a planned trilogy that will form the basis of a forthcoming television series titled "Dustfall." Pollard returns to her hometown of Deception Bay, still affected by a past case involving a collapsed rape investigation. Soon after her arrival, she is subjected to an attempted rape in a pub car park. Her subsequent arrest of the assailant is met with resistance from the town and some of her colleagues. Pollard then uncovers a pattern of sexual assaults that have been largely overlooked, prompting her to investigate the reasons behind their suppression.
