I have been on the lookout for a book like The Dying Light by Ann Cleeves for a while: a mystery where you come upon a body on page 3, and are with the detectives and community for the next 366 pages trying to figure out who, what, when, how, and perhaps most importantly why the incident unfolded as it did.
Set on the coast of North Devon, this is the fourth book in the Two Rivers series by the author of the Vera Stanhope series. Each story further develops the police force's characters while expanding the reader's understanding of the local community's complexities. (It is helpful, but not necessary, to read the stories in sequence.)
Detective Inspector Matthew Venn has recently returned to the region where he grew up, but is estranged from his family. He is thoughtful, empathetic, and insecure, an interesting combination. Venn’s second-in-command is Sergeant Jen Rafferty, a single mother of two nearly grown children, finally getting her feet under her after a difficult marriage and subsequent rough patch. The third member of the team is DC Ross May, a young man, recently married and beginning to settle down – and learn patience. The victim was a young woman who had just finished her A-levels and traveled to Devon with a schoolmate; she’s first declared missing and soon found murdered a short distance away.
That’s the set-up. Then come the players. The young women’s families: one with a rising politician father, a mother who smoothes everything over, and whose second home serves as the setting for the incident; the other, whose high-profile parents went through a nasty divorce. What is the curious backstory of their friendship? The police: Matthew’s husband is going through an intense time; Jen’s teenage son is uncommunicative; Ross and his wife are hoping for children. The community: locals who resent wealthy incomers; business people who rely on visitors to make a living; supporters of the liberal politician whose daughter was killed and those who blame him for society's ills; farmers trying to diversify to survive…
I was happy to travel to Devon for several hours – to leave breaking news and op-ed pages behind. Though it begins with a tragedy and fictional people get hurt physically and emotionally, as with the best mystery novels there is a surprising resolution in the end.
Liza Bernard is a voracious reader who enjoys both printed volumes and audiobooks. Formerly co-owner of the Norwich Bookstore, she maintains her connections with readers and writers as the Programming and Marketing Librarian at the Norman Williams Public Library in Woodstock, Vermont.
