Severn House
Featuring: Jim Atherton; David Morgan; DCI Bill Slider
256 pages ISBN: 1448314631 EAN: 9781448314638 Kindle: B0DKXRP6F6 Hardcover / e-Book Add to Wish List
DCI Bill Slider returns in this evergreen series. A new reader could pick up EASEFUL DEATH in search of a London-based police procedural story, equally as well as a longtime fan. This is book twenty-five.
Rhianne Morgan, a middle-class eighteen-year-old, has concluded her school leaving exams and is finally taking her ease in the garden. That’s what I think the title refers to anyway, as otherwise, it doesn’t seem apt. Murder isn’t easeful. When Rhianne’s stepfather returns from work, he finds her lying in the kitchen, unresponsive. A suspicious death draws the police, and Bill Slider learns that Rhianne has been strangled.
The suspects necessarily include the stepfather, David Morgan, and any boyfriends, fleeting or otherwise, the young woman knew. The Shepherd’s Bush police station covers a mix of residential areas, and the cops try to keep tabs on habitual criminals. One such, released a few months ago for attacking a woman – which he denies – is Andy Denton, known as Handy Andy. Questioned, Andy denies having known Rhianne. The cops also question her most recent boyfriend, Kenton Willans, who adds his older brother to the list of suspects. Then there’s anyone who reads her social media pages. There is no shortage of suspects, and several are lying, but there’s precious little evidence.
Cynthia Harrod-Eagles keeps a running soap opera in the background of her books. By now Slider is on his second family, having married his orchestral musician girlfriend Joanna, and they have two small kids, while his two earlier offspring are at college. Jim Atherton, Slider’s sidekick, is finally settling down with Stephanie, a medical professional, who isn’t sure about tying herself to someone in the Job. I love the vociferous cats. The ins and outs show the difficulties of arranging holiday time and family occasions while working on a distressing and complex murder case.
This police procedural is relatively light by comparison with some, which are more correctly thrillers. There are no stalkers, shoot-outs, or ransom demands. Just a job well done and the satisfaction of knowing that justice is being served. EASEFUL DEATH has a spread of male characters with unpleasant attitudes towards women. This is an adult read and could be primarily so to warn parents what eighteen-year-old life is like. I don’t know how true this is of modern life, but personally, I would be jailing most of the male suspects, just because they deserve it.
A young woman is murdered at the height of summer in this gritty, page-turning mystery set in London and featuring DCI Bill Slider – “one of Britain’s most engaging coppers” (Booklist)
Most homicides are young male on young male, and that’s bad enough. But as a father of two daughters, DCI Bill Slider can’t help but take it harder when the victim is a young woman.
Rhianne Morgan, just eighteen, waiting for her A-level results, lies dead in her comfortable middle-class home in a nice, respectable area. Neighbours remember rows with her stepfather. Schoolmates talk of a boyfriend humiliatingly dumped. Her bestie mentions an unnamed new boyfriend, who possibly provided her with drugs. But the back gate was open, and anyone could have walked in. Did she even know her assailant?
Secrets and lies flourished around this troubled teenager, a thicket of thorns Slider and his team must cut through to find the truth. Who killed Rhianne?
As Slider’s boss says, it’s always the first person you suspect. Except when it isn’t.
This critically-acclaimed British police procedural series is a great choice for fans of Catherine Aird, Ann Cleeves and Peter James. If you haven’t met Bill Slider and his team, why not start now?
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