Blog tour for Final Verdict by Sally Rigby

It’s my turn on the blog tour for Final Verdict by Sally Rigby. If you like police procedurals featuring strong female characters, read on!

Final Verdict by Sally Rigby

My thoughts

This is book six in the Walker & Cavendish series. I haven’t read any of the previous novels, but I was able to follow along perfectly well.

This is a satisfying police procedural. It doesn’t break any new ground in the genre, but that’s okay: sometimes we need the familiar rhythms of standard genre elements to escape into, especially when life seems unpredictable.

Plot

The book pairs Dr. George Cavendish (short for Georgina, I think), a forensic psychologist, and DCI Whitney Walker as they chase a killer targeting members of a prestigious law firm.

The victims are all from the corporate department. All died of heart attacks, but the pathologist finds that those heart attacks were induced by lethal doses of potassium chloride. A painful, horrible way to die.

The first, Julian Lyons, appears to be a fabulous Mr Perfect. As any mystery reader knows, Mr. Perfect is code for for he was secretly a total (bleep). (It’s true. The only differences are the ways they are bleepin’ horrible.) And he was. But does it have any bearing on his murder?

It’s like that for all the victims. All of them had areas where they were less than perfect humans (as we all do) but somehow, no motive emerges. Even George, a psychologist, and Whitney, an experienced investigator, are baffled. Why these victims? What’s the common thread?

The plot moves briskly. We follow Whitney’s team as they dig for clues, face dead ends, and endless frustration as the number of victims grow and the answers remain elusive. Sally Rigby does a good job throwing in some red herrings. It’s not a complex plot. All the same, I was satisfied when the killer is caught.

Characters

Plot-wise, the mystery was fine. But the book’s strongest area was the relationships between George, Whitney, and Claire, the prickly but brilliant pathologist. All three women are fighting their private battles.

Whitney’s mom has dementia and might have cancer.

George has had an ultimatum from her boyfriend; meanwhile her ex is behaving badly in the university department where they both teach.

The pricklier-than-usual Claire has a major decision to make.

This book definitely passes the three-fold bechdel test: 1) at least two female characters 2) who have names, and 3) who talk about something other than a man. Imagine that: women talking about things other than men. Shocking. And here, Whitney and George’s conversation topics are wide and varied: emotional heart-to-heart talks, minor interactions, and major kick-in-the-butt motivational talks. And not always about men!

I really liked that each of the characters (and some of the minor ones, too) have their own lives apart from the case. Whitney’s difficult boss bounces between breathing fire down her back over the stalled case and floating on air because he thinks he’s being promoted. I really enjoyed his character, though I’m quite thankful that he isn’t my boss. Almost everyone has some issue(s) to deal with. This added a lot to the emotional depth of the book for me.

Of the two major characters, my favorite was George. She’s a psychologist. She reads other people’s body language and examines their emotions, thoughts, and motivations. But she desperately needs to examine her own emotions and heart. She either won’t do it (she prides herself on her emotion-squashing) or doesn’t have the skills to do it. I found this contradiction fascinating.

A few quibbles . . .

I did have a few quibbles. I wondered how George managed to sit in on so many of the interviews and why none of the interviewees questioned her presence. (Then again, I’m not sure I’d question the police if I was in a witness/suspect in a murder case; I’d be too scared.) There were also points when Whitney seemed less savvy and emotionally intelligent than an experienced investigator should be. Still, she’s under a great deal of stress, so perhaps that accounts for some of her reactions.

One thing I enjoyed . . .

There are several times when Whitney is interacting with her mother that gripped my heart. Her mom has dementia. As anyone who’s cared for a dementia patient can tell you, there are bad days and good days. And sometimes, they’re on the same day. Here, Whitney has to deal with her mom on both types of days. When she and her mom do connect emotionally, it’s a beautiful thing. Rigby infuses those scenes with tenderness and love, raising my sympathy for both women.

Overall

Overall, this is a good police procedural. It’s satisfying and enjoyable. The murders are horrible but not bloody and gruesome, and there’s very little violence otherwise. No one curses, either, which is very unusual in this genre.

All in all, the book made a nice change of pace for me. It was a comfortable, enjoyable read where I could be assured that the killer would get caught, justice would be served, and the victims avenged. The detective doesn’t play the maverick and go off on her own, point a loaded gun at difficult people, or make dark, snarky remarks about everyone she meets, or brood in lonely despair over a beer as she slowly gets drunk. She doesn’t need to break the rules of law enforcement to find the killer. Whitney has real friends; she drinks but not excessively; her emotional health is mostly okay.

I said earlier that the book didn’t break any new ground. But what it does do is show that a book doesn’t need to have that maverick-loner-alcoholic cop to be an interesting, page-turning police procedural. Now that is unusual and refreshing. I hope to see more of it!

Thanks to author Sally Rigby and Emma Welton of damppebbles blog tours for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Buy Final Verdict now!

To buy on Amazon, click on:

Amazon UK

Amazon US

This book doesn’t appear to be on Indiebound, but previous titles in the series are. I found Deadly Games, Fatal Justice, Death Track, Lethal Secret, and Last Breath when I searched for the author’s name. So if you like to buy from indie bookstores or just want an alternative to Amazon, check it out!

Check out all the reviews from the blog tour