The Dreaming Detective

H.R.F. Keating

Macmillan, £16.99 Hb Rel:Nov 2003

Reviewed by Simon Fowler

In this deeply disappointing novel, H.R.F. Keating’s latest heroine Detective Superintendent Harriet Martens is asked by the Chief Constable of Greater Birchester Police to investigate a famous unsolved murder of a charismatic young preacher which took place in 1967. Martens is known to colleagues and the press as being the ‘Hard Detective’, but here she is as hard as a soft-boiled egg. The plot is preposterous with more holes in it than a colander. Would, for example, a Chief Constable waste valuable police time be assigning a top ‘tec to investigate a long ago murder – even if he was out to destroy Harriet’s reputation, which apparently the intention (although Keating does little to develop this thread of the plot). And of course it is a coincidence that all the prime suspects, who had attended the cleric’s last meeting, are still alive. In it’s favour the book is well-written moving along at a fair clip. Harriet, and her sergeant Pip Steadman (who is recovering from a nervous breakdown), come across as sympathetic and well-rounded individuals. There’s also a couple of exciting bits, but all in all this is the cosiest of the cosiest police procedurals.