No-one should die alone. She must do something, if only to cradle him while he died; but when she tried to lift him she succeeded only in pulling his dead weight against her. Fighting for balance she saw a macabre vision of herself, trapped under the body of a dying man, and pushed him away from her. He flopped onto his back in the emuslion of mud and blood and muck that had accumulated in the lane. It took a second attempt before she managed to cradle him against her.
"I don't know what to do," she whispered to him. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened. I don't know what to do".
A murder is a starting point for Jo Allen's Death at Rainbow Cottage, set in Eden Valley, Cumbria. This is the fourth book in the DCI Satterthwaite crime series, but it reads well as a standalone (I haven't read the previous books).
The murder occurs on the tucked away rutted track outside the house of the equalities activist Claud Blackwell, and his mentally vulnerable wife Natalie.
DCI Jude Satterthwaite and his team are investigating the murder. The body is identified as Len Pierce, a local baker known for his excellent cakes and abrupt manner.
Natalie Blackwell who used to be a ballet dancer and an actor, is severely neurotic. She runs to help her with anxiety. It is while running towards Rainbow Cottage, their home, that she stumbles upon dying Len. She seems to be dependent on her husband in everything. The relationship between Natalie and her husband is "a one-way dependency he seemed to accept without question".The Blackwells moved recently to the village, and the locals find them a bit odd.
The post mortem reveals that Len died of the stab wound. His sister blames the death on Len's sexual orientation. She is quite openly disapproving.
This event shakes up the local community. When another apparently random murder happens outside Claud's office, DCI Satterthwaite has to figure out whether Claud is the intended victim, or the killer.
Alongside the main investigation, Jude and his partner Ashleigh have to deal with the ambitious new boss, who intends to prove her mettle, and change the departmental politics. She is a bitch disagreable, hostile woman, insecure in her position, who quickly antagonises lots of people. She is one of those woke people who claim to be bring more diversity to the workplace, but are in fact insufferable bullies. Her attitude causes many complications at work.
When a threatening note arrives at the police headquarters, Jude has a real cause to fear for the safety of his friends and colleagues.
Death at Rainbow Cottage is a multi-layered, satisfying read. It's a skilfully constructed crime story, with an insightful police procedural and well-developed characters. It is also an intelligent meditation on relationships, sexuality and freedom of choice. First-class crime fiction.
Purchase Link -
Author Bio – Jo Allen is the author of the successful DCI Satterthwaite series of detective novels set in and around the English Lake District, where she lives. After a career in economic consultancy she took up writing and was first published under the name Jennifer Young in genres of short stories, romance and romantic suspense. In 2017 she took the plunge and began writing the genre she most likes to read – crime. In common with all her favourite characters, she loves football (she's a season ticket holder with her beloved Wolverhampton Wanderers) and cats.
Social Media Links –
Twitter @JoAllenAuthor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoAllenAuthor
Instagram @JoAllenAuthor
This post is part of the blog tour.
Many thanks to Jo Allen and Rachel's Random Resources for my copy of the book!
No comments:
Post a Comment