Genre: forensic mystery/police procedural

Publication: 4 May 2021, Severn House

A suspected car-jacking leads to something deeper and darker in the compelling new Will Traynor forensic mystery.

The emergency call comes in the early hours of the morning. A man and a woman found in a car in a rundown part of the city, both of them critically injured. A random, opportune attack by a stranger? Or were the pair deliberately targeted? Is there a connection to series of car-jackings which has been plaguing the area? Nothing about this case seems to add up. As each theory as to what might have happened leads to yet more questions, Detective Inspector Bernard Watts decides to call on the help of criminologist Dr Will Traynor. Traynor knows that it’s the small, easily missed details that will crack the case, but not even he could suspect just where those seemingly insignificant details will lead . . .

(from Bookshop.org)

My thoughts

When I started Devil in the Detail, I was in the mood for a good police procedural. You know, the kind with a grumpy detective with an irate boss, lots of pressure, and several wildcard colleagues who do wacky things. This book delivered that.

Story

This has all the elements of a terrific police procedural: a mysterious crime; an intriguing, scruffy setting; snappy dialogue; colorful characters (and in junior officer Chloe Judd’s case, colorful hair, too); and a zero-tolerance boss fearful of the press, who are breathing fire down the necks of law enforcement. Add to this the concerns from the inner city residents about the increasing police presence in their area, and the situation is fraught with tension. (I’ll note that this last source of conflict felt a little too easily dealt with and in an idealistic way, but I realize this story can’t explore with everything in depth.)

A carjacking happens on an isolated road. One victim is shot to death; his wife survives, but suffers post-trauma induced amnesia. There have been multiple carjackings near this area, but this case has some unusual features.

For example, the presence of the gun. This was a jolting reminder that this story takes place in the U.K., not America. In my area (the U.S.), the presence of a gun during a car theft would be business as usual, nothing out of the ordinary. Shootings are not unusual, unfortunately. But for these characters, the shooting of both Lawrences stops them in their tracks. What makes it more unusual, is that for the last decade, there have been no carjackings involving a firearm. So why these victims? For that matter, what were two well-off people doing in this area?

The Inspector and the Criminologist

DI Bernard Watts is stumped. Because there have been multiple other carjackings in the vicinity, there’s a lot of pressure on the police to find the culprit. Yet despite his competent, though colorful, officers and many late hours, they can’t find the culprit. (Victim/eyewitness Molly Lawrence’s amnesia doesn’t help, either.) So he calls in criminologist Dr. Will Traynor to help.

Will Traynor has been an emotional mess, but he’s trying to keep it under control. Whenever stress arises, he shuts down his thinking. He doesn’t allow himself to feel emotions. He doesn’t cling to his wife’s memory. It works . . . for now. There’s a sense that Traynor might break at any moment if the stressors overpower his fragile ability to shut down.

Traynor’s work

It’s fascinating to see him put together the information about the geographical location of the attack. While Traynor doesn’t show up until relatively late (for a major character) in the story, it works because Watts is an engaging character in his own right, and because we need all the information from the earliest stages of the investigation to understand Traynor’s thoughts and methods.

The story was enjoyable, with plenty of surprises. The colorful characters and their relationships are engaging. The conflict between the police officers amused, rather than put off, me. I also found it kind of cute how sharp-tongued, uber-confident Chloe Judd becomes tongue-tied around a good-looking visitor.

But the most enjoyable part is seeing how Traynor’s work puts together the pieces of the mystery. There’s a sharp contrast and conflict between his job and Watts’ role as a police investigator, a divide between the theoretical and the practical, which is fascinating. I was more interested in that than in the actual mystery, which somehow felt a bit lackluster.

The book leaves room for sequels and further developments in these characters’ relationships.

Recommended

This is an enjoyable mystery for fans of police procedurals and forensic mysteries. A solid 4 stars.

Note: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions are my own.

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