‘The body of Stephanie Burnham is discovered by her husband when he returns to their neat suburban home after a day at the races. It looks like murder, and a particularly brutal one at that: the woman has been subjected to a savage assault and then shot at close range.
For Detective Chief Inspector Carston, newly arrived in the town of Cairnburgh, near Aberdeen, the case is a conundrum. all the evidence points to Michael Burnham as the murderer-it is common knowlede that his marriage had become a hollow sham-and yet, somehow, the pieces of the jugsaw just don’t fit together.
Everyone Carston talks to paints a different picture of the victim-highflying businesswoman to middle-aged drunken depressive – and he slowly realizes that only when he has solved the enigman of Stephanie Burnham’s personality will he be able to uncover the shocking truth about her death.’
241 pages
I have wanted to read this book for quite awhile. I loved the setting and the description sounded good and folks on Goodreads gave it 4 and 5 stars. For me it was only 3. I was slightly disappointed in it. Mind you, my grandkids were here and it took me a while to get it read so I was distracted. It seemed slow at first and then towards the end got more interesting and I found myself finding more time to sneak in some reading. But the end, even though it had a real good twist, was totally unbelievable for me. Disgusting actually.
Good writing, solid plot, great red herrings and I did like DCI Carston but the end blew it. The author seemed fixated with putting foreign objects in ‘unmentionable places’ too. Not just the main crime but the side case and another character in the book. A little over kill.
But that’s just me, you can check out other reviews at Goodreads here.
This book did count for the Read Scotland 2014 challenge though! Number 17!
Peggy Ann
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