Friday, February 11, 2011

Past Tense-Catherine Aird

Past Tense
Catherine Aird
Minotaur, Mar 1 2011, $25.99
ISBN: 9780312672911

In England when spinster Josephine Short dies, her next of kin is her estranged great-nephew Bill Wakefield. Since he is in South America on business, his wife Janet arranges the funeral.

At Josephine’s funeral, a stranger arrives late and insists he is Joe Short, the grandson of the deceased. Everyone who knew Josephine had no idea she had an offspring let alone a grandchild; she even listed Bill as her nearest relative. Soon after the burial, someone breaks into the Berebury Nursing Home where the deceased spent her last days before dying there. Nothing seems to have bee stolen, several items are broken. Not long afterward a homicide happens leaving Detective Chief Sloan and Detective Constable Crosby to investigate what secret the late elderly woman had that has led to a murder.

This is superb English police procedural with a powerful cast of characters. The story line is fast-paced from the moment Jan learns of the broken items at the home and never slows as the two cops work the case. Readers will enjoy the latest Sloan and Crosby investigation (see Parting Breath).

Harriet Klausner

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