The story is set in the 1920’s and what makes it interesting is that it is post WW1 so the reader is given glimpses of post war living in England, as well as the impact of post traumatic syndrome (which would not have been heard of back then but from this far in the future easy to recognise). The story follows an investigation into the brutal deaths of a wealthy rural family, led by Inspector John Madden, a WW1 veteran. The crime scene, community, and characters were all well written and believable. It was a good whodunnit story. My only misgiving was the romance which although was written well, tended to become a bit tedious for me because I just wanted to get on with the story, so I thought a lot of the relationship details between Madden and one of the other key characters took over the story too much.
Immediately following this book, I read ‘The Blood Dimmed Tide’, also by Rennie Airth. Set in the 1930’s John Madden has since married his lover from the first book and retired from the Police Force. A bit chilling this story because it involves the death of a child, and Im not keen on these type of stories but I persevered. Madden is asked to assist the murder investigation because of his local knowledge and with his usual strong quiet personality, we are taken again for a tour of history in terms of pre WW2 and its impact on the rural community.
Another good story, it had me turn the pages all the way to the end of the book. However, I have to get off my chest one irritation and that is Madden’s wife. She seems to constantly treating this tough guy that has been through WW1 and a police officer for ever, like he is a child and it drove me to distraction. Throughout the book there is dialogue between the wife and police, some of whom are Madden’s excolleagues, to be gentle with him, to leave him alone, back off or else they will have her deal with, and it was totally contradictory to the character of Madden who is supposed to be a man’s man, and has faced every atrocity on this earth. I know we are supposed to suspend judgment/belief etc when reading fiction but there is a child missing, dead etc and possibility of others if the perp is not caught, what person would say “stop, I dont want you involved” if you knew they were more than capable & intelligent to hunt the criminal down. And what police would (even back in the 1930’s) put up with a female like her when there is a murder to solve or murderer to catch? So again, I felt this darn female kept popping her oar in things distracting me from the crime and making Madden out to be a right wet pratt. If this character could take a back seat, maybe have her remain in the kitchen or wrapping a wound, then the story would for me be marvellous, but shes a distracting front seater so I was stuck with her. Good writing, ditch the broad.
I would rate these books 2 out of 5.
