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The paperback edition of Bauer's 2nd dark thriller, following the success of "Blacklands". Set once again on Exmoor, it's a sequel but can be read on its own. 'Belinda Bauer is the most disturbing new talent around.' Val McDermid
Synopsis
It is freezing mid-winter on Exmoor, and in a close-knit community where no stranger goes unnoticed, a local woman has been found murdered in her bed. This is local policeman Jonas Holly's first murder investigation. But he is distracted by anonymous letters, accusing him of failing to do his job.
Book Details
Publisher:
CORGI BOOKS
Publication Date:
29-Sep-2011
ISBN:
9780552158886
Guardian review
Darkside by Belinda Bauer - review
the guardian Tue 04 October 2011
"It was like investigating a murder in Brigadoon," thinks the aptly named but thoroughly hacked-off DCI John Marvel as he struggles to solve the sudden crimewave in Shipcott, a moorland village in Somerset with a rapidly declining population. The trouble starts when a disabled old woman is smothered in her bed, and then gets worse, culminating in the murders of three elderly residents of Sunset Lodge: not so much a killing, by this stage, more of a cull, thinks Marvel. With his rage and his wet shoes and his outrageous theories, Marvel is the best character in this gripping story of a small community paralysed by secrets, snow and murders. He provides a necessary antidote to the apparently saintly local bobby, Jonas Holly and his adored, terminally ill wife Lucy. Bauer won wide acclaim for her first novel, Blacklands; she can do tragic brilliantly and she can do grim, but every now and then humour breaks into the tale and she does that almost best of all.