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This British crime novel is the fourth Hannah Scarlett and Daniel Kind story.
As indicated in my bait quotation, the story begins when affluent George Saffell is trapped in a fire together with his beloved collection of books.
A few weeks later, on New Year´s Eve, DCI Hannah Scarlett and her partner Marc Amos meet Saffell´s widow and many of the other people who are involved in this plot. The host is the ruthless lawyer Stuart Wagg, Louise Kind´s latest conquest – or is it the other way round?
Workwise, Hannah Scarlett is involved in the cold case of Bethany Friend, a young woman who drowned in the shallow Serpent Pool six years earlier in what may be suicide or murder. Soon Hannah begins to suspect there is a connection between her case and the new murder case.
As usual in the series, Daniel gets involved in the murders, partly because of Louise´s relationship with Stuart Wagg, partly because of his job. And as Hannah and Marc´s private problems are escalating, it is very tempting for her to discuss the case with Daniel who is single again after Miranda left him and the cottage for glittering London.
Not unexpectedly, this was an exciting and very well-written crime novel. Martin Edwards is in great shape!
The book is a birthday present.
