Helpful Score: 2
I have read all the books in this series as they became available the last 8 or 9 years in used book stores and on PBS. This year I had all 15 and I went back and read them all in order and enjoyed them even more seeing how M & M's relationship developed over time and the continuation of various characters in subsequent books.
Lorraine T. (mysterylover) reviewed A Restless Evil (Meredith and Markby, Bk 14) on + 318 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
A rambler stumbles on a body in Stovey Woods in the Cotswolds. Insp. Markby had an early unsolved case in this dreary town 22 years ago. Is there a connection? Another great Granger book. I love all of them.
Judith L. (jlautner) reviewed A Restless Evil (Meredith and Markby, Bk 14) on + 106 more book reviews
This is the first book by Granger I have read, and therefore is my introduction to her characters Detective Alan Markby and lover Meredith Mitchell. The two are looking for a house to buy together when they see police cars roaring into a small village. Markby can't resist investigating and is soon officially in charge. A doctor doing a walking vacation had come across a pile of human bones. Whose bones? How did the person die? How long ago? These are the immediate questions.
It soon turns out that the person who died did so about 20 years before. Markby was just starting out as a detective at that time and was investigating the case of the "potato man", a rapist who attacked several women in the area. Could this person be connected to that case? It had never been solved, and it weighed on the detective's mind.
It takes a bit of time to discover to whom the bones belonged. Before then, Meredith discovers a body in a church. It is the roommate and close friend of Ruth Aston. Ruth and Hester Millar jointly cared for the church. Nobody can explain why Hester should have been murdered.
Markby has to focus on this recent murder but his mind is never far from the Potato Man, and he asks a lot of questions about that time.
In the investigation it seems that information arrives haphazardly and accidentally. I didn't detect a systematic approach in the questioning or in the development of forensic evidence. As a fan of procedural mysteries, I was disappointed. It seemed like Granger did not do the research that would be needed to learn about police processes, and further, did not develop a particularly good plot. The book, nevertheless, is easy to read and absorbing enough.
It soon turns out that the person who died did so about 20 years before. Markby was just starting out as a detective at that time and was investigating the case of the "potato man", a rapist who attacked several women in the area. Could this person be connected to that case? It had never been solved, and it weighed on the detective's mind.
It takes a bit of time to discover to whom the bones belonged. Before then, Meredith discovers a body in a church. It is the roommate and close friend of Ruth Aston. Ruth and Hester Millar jointly cared for the church. Nobody can explain why Hester should have been murdered.
Markby has to focus on this recent murder but his mind is never far from the Potato Man, and he asks a lot of questions about that time.
In the investigation it seems that information arrives haphazardly and accidentally. I didn't detect a systematic approach in the questioning or in the development of forensic evidence. As a fan of procedural mysteries, I was disappointed. It seemed like Granger did not do the research that would be needed to learn about police processes, and further, did not develop a particularly good plot. The book, nevertheless, is easy to read and absorbing enough.
