The plot is kick-started by the murder of Janine McQuarrie, which is witnessed by her 6 year old daughter. Janine McQuarrie had recently succumbed to her husband's requests and reluctantly attended some swinging, spouse-swapping sex parties. With spite appearing the main motive, Janine takes some candid photos with her mobile phone and sends them anonymously to some of the other participants, including her husband. When she is found dead and the photos come to light, they provide an obvious motive for her murder.
When independent town newspaper editor and former Challis lover, Tessa Kane is also murdered following a piece she had written about sex parties in the local paper, the motive appears obvious. But is this the case? Are there other underlying links between these women?
Complicating matters, Janine is the daughter-in-law of the Police Superintendent, who continues to make a nuisance of himself throughout the case. His motives are unclear, other than being more interested in protecting his son than pursuing the killer.
Challis, his police partner Ellen Destry and the usual Waterloo station cohorts, Scobie Sutton, John Tankard and Pam Murphy begin an investigation that twists and turns to a brilliant finality. We know who the killer is, but the reader is unaware who is pulling the strings. Eventually all is revealed, with the loose ends and seemingly superfluous investigations and red herrings tying together to reveal the mastermind and their true motives.
If you enjoy police procedural novels, then you won't be disappointed with this one. Garry Disher has provided a shrewdly constructed storyline with a surprising twist at the end. An intriguing read that has me earnestly sourcing the other Inspector Challis books in the series.
MY RATING: 4/5
I enjoyed the first two books in this series but was not too sure about this one - it seemed much darker than the first two. The "spoiler" in your review (Tess) is a big shock given her major role in the earlier novels. I was in a very low state when I read it, though, so maybe I should try the next one in the series.
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