Beneath the surface lie deadly secrets…
DI Shona Oliver agreed to move to Dumfries with her ex-banker husband when their teenage daughter got in with a bad crowd in London. As a Glasgow native, she’s back on home turf.
Living on the shores of the Solway Firth allows Shona to continue as an RNLI volunteer, and a call out to recover a woman’s body indicates foul play. Police in Cumbria take the case but links back to Scotland keep Shona’s team involved. As they investigate, reports of people trafficking and a spate of thefts from local shops compete for attention with a large scale drug bust. But Shona’s work may all be in vain when those close to her threaten to tear the case apart – and ruin Shona in the process.
An unforgettable debut novel by a Scottish crime writer to watch.
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I received a copy of this book from the author and Canelo in return for an honest review.
My Thoughts…
This is a well-written story with a good mix of police procedural and family drama. The setting is one I’ve not read about before, giving the story an added dimension of interest. The main protagonist, Detective Inspector Shona Oliver, is a well-rounded character juggling a challenging career, important voluntary work and family life, sometimes unsuccessfully.
This is the first book in a series, and there is a degree of world-building that affects the plot’s pacing. The characters are complex, and the straightforward plot has twists and a few surprises, making me want to read the next one.
A positive start to a police procedural series set on the Scottish borders.
Glasgow-born Lynne McEwan is a former newspaper photographer turned crime author. She’s covered stories including the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the first Gulf War in addition to many high profile murder cases. She currently lives in Lincoln and is in the final year of an MA in Crime Fiction at the University of East Anglia.
