Book Review: The Darkness and the Deep

Reviewed By: Catherine Thompson - RAM

The Darkness and the Deep     Amazon US PB Amazon US TPB Amazon UK PB Amazon UK HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada TPB
Aline Templeton
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Thriller
Series: Detective Inspector Marjory Fleming # 2
Hodder & Stoughton, 391 pages

When the Knockhaven lifeboat goes down with all three of its crew, the small Scottish town is immediately plunged into mourning. All of the crew were locals, and in a town the size of Knockhaven, everyone knew them. But grief turns into disbelief and anger when Detective Sergeant Tam MacNee discovers that the wreck of the lifeboat wasn’t a simple tragic accident but a deliberate act.

Detective Inspector Marjory Fleming dives into this case without reservation. She’s stymied, however, by an overabundance of suspicion. Newly transferred Detective Constable Jon Kingsley thinks the wreck is connected to the increasing drugs trade in Galloway. Tam MacNee is keeping an open mind, but he isn’t above suspecting Nat Rettie, the stepson of one of the men who went down with the lifeboat, a lad who by all accounts hated his stepfather and delighted in torturing the young teacher who also died in the wreck. And then there’s Dorothy Randall, whose son was married to the third victim of the wreck, a woman who despised her daughter-in-law.

As she and her team dig deeper into the case, Marjory is also beset by home worries: her teenage daughter Cat has fallen in with the wrong crowd, and now Marjory fears Cat may be succumbing to anorexia nervosa. When another member of the lifeboat dies in a hit-and-run accident, Fleming and her team must step up the investigation, before someone else falls victim to the Wrecker.

The Darkness and the Deep is Templeton’s second Marjory Fleming novel, and I hope it won’t be the last. The author has created a strong cast of characters, and she knows how to plot. I look forward to her next effort.

Catherine Thompson - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Catherine Thompson - RAM