Publisher's Weekly Review
At the start of Ward's gripping sequel to 2015's In Bitter Chill, a police procedural starring the officers of the Derbyshire Constabulary, a body lies in an abandoned morgue built during WWI. The deceased, Andrew Fisher, was shot dead more than a decade earlier. At the time, Fisher's wife, Lena Gray, identified the body, confessed to the murder, and was sent to prison. Det. Constable Connie Childs and Det. Sgt. Damian Palmer are keen to question Lena, who's out on parole, about the possibility she misidentified her husband. Kat Gray, Lena's sister, wants answers, but the clues that an anonymous teen is feeding her aren't adding up. More deaths follow, and while the detectives struggle to put together the pieces, their superiors seem to be holding something back. Supt. Dai Llewellyn suggests the case involves sex, and Connie and Damian begin to suspect that rape is at the heart of events. The confusion and obfuscation that delay the solution are frustrating but also true to the realities of this sort of crime. Agent: Kirsty McLachlan, David Godwin Associates (U.K.). (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Finding the recently dispatched body of Andrew Fisher in an abandoned morgue in Derbyshire presents multiple problems for police, mainly because Fisher presumably was killed in 2004 by his wife, Lena, who pleaded guilty, was convicted, and is currently out on parole. So who died in 2004, who killed Fisher, and where is Lena, who has disappeared from the family home she shared with her younger sister, therapist Kat Grey, after Andrew's body was found? The ensuing suicide of a woman who had been a friend of Lena's and Kat's seems part of the picture, all of which puzzles DI Francis Sadler and his team members, DS Damian Palmer and DC Connie Childs. Supervisor Dai Llewellyn, Sadler's boss, seems to have an inkling but simply tells Sadler that the case revolves around sex. As she did in her accomplished debut, In Bitter Chill (2015), Ward draws a connectionbetween old and current crimes and puts them in the context of societal problems, all the while delving into the private lives of her well-drawn characters. With Sadler and company, Ward has a winning series going.--Leber, Michele Copyright 2016 Booklist
