Simon Killick lived alone his The Grange, a recluse bar for his friendship – of sorts – with the local vicar, the Reverend John Clare, and his pets, three dogs and a parrot. But Killick has shadows in his past, shadows that are leading down a very dark path indeed. A path that will lead to him being found dead in his home, smashed over the head.

The same night, Toby, a schoolboy, finds a dying man whose final words concern a kneeling woman. The local police struggle to make any headway, so enter Inspector Collier from Scotland Yard to investigate – but this case is going to be far more personal to him than he expected.

In April last year, Dean Street Press re-issued five more novels from Moray Dalton, making fifteen in total. I’m not entirely sure what the logic is in the choices of books was, as the three tranches of releases are scattered throughout her output. We have Curtis Evans, crime fiction historian of The Passing Tramp blog, to thank for championing Dalton (and quite a few other long-lost authors) and being the driving force behind these reissues. I think Dalton is one of Dean Street Press’s more successful authors, after Brian Flynn of course*, and from the ones that I’ve read to date, I can see why. She is generally good with character work and setting, and some of her ideas are clever.

This one came up as it came to light that I’d overlooked the recent set of reissues and before I could say “Whoops”, a copy of this one turned up on my doorstep. Well, who am I to say no to a free book?**

This one is an interesting one, structurally for a couple of reasons. The first is that for a long period of time, the reader knows something that may well be important that Inspector Collier (making his sixth appearance here) doesn’t. It takes a very long time for him to discover something that we are told in the opening chapter – I’m not saying that it’s relevant to the solution of the case, as that would be a spoiler, but it’s quite odd, nonetheless. Actually there’s a second bit of info that is kept back (although it’s on the blurb) for a few chapters for no particularly good reason as well.

There’s also the second murder, which, and again I won’t go into reasons, that I found rather unsatisfying.

But there’s also a very dark pair of deaths that are chilling, and then…

… the ending, which goes beyond finding the killer/the killer telling Collier that they did it, encompassing both the trial and the aftermath. These chapters lift the book tremendously, adding a lot of depth to what has gone before, making this more than a worthwhile read. Although I would recommend skipping the blurb and reading the excellent introduction from Curtis after reading the book, as it does spoil something – not something that relates to the mystery, but still something that I’d have preferred not to know.

So I’ll be back with another Dalton at some point in the future – I’ve still got nine of the re-releases left to read, so plenty to choose from.

*I have absolutely no evidence in this, but I have faith. And excellent taste.

**Any other publishers who want to send me free books, go right ahead.