BOUND IN SHALLOWS

Freda Davies

Constable, £16.99hbk Rel:

Reviewed by

, .

This is the author’s second book in a series featuring an upper-class cop. DI Keith Tyrrell is a well-drawn, likeable character, but he’s not exactly a one-off. His lovely psychiatrist wife and his beautiful, immaculate home are all a bit too good to be true.

The River Severn is in flood following heavy rains. When the flood retreats, a girl’s body is discovered. Pathology reveals that she was dead when she went into the water. She was wearing underpants the wrong way round and had been anointed on various parts of her body with a mysterious oil.

The clues to the murder point in the direction of the nearby Forest of Dean, an area DI Tyrrell knows well – he has had experience of its unique atmosphere and the strange ways of its inhabitants. He suspects that the dead girl has been involved in witchcraft.

Unfortunately, Tyrrell’s immediate boss, the paranoid DCI Whittaker, who is almost insanely jealous of Tyrrell, puts every possible obstacle in the path of this line of investigation. Despite the fact that three more girls from the Forest are murdered, Whittaker takes Tyrrell of the case and insists he clear up some local burglaries instead.

It is not until Whittaker goes on leave that Tyrrell can follow up the murders. He soon becomes convinced that the three later ones are copycat killings.

I found the plotline extremely confusing. There are far too many minor characters – both members of the police force and the public. You are constantly turning back to remind yourself who these people are. When the two killers are eventually identified, they haven’t actually appeared before. The cause of Whittaker’s attitude to Tyrrell is never fully explained. It is mentioned that he or his wife was being stalked, but by whom, and why? It is also revealed that Tyrrell’s wife has been attacked by one of the patients at the psychiatric unit where she works, but again few details are given.

Freda Davies background knowledge of police procedure is excellent, and so are her general descriptions of the Forest of Dean and its population. I just felt the plot needed tightening up.