Another excellent book, the sixth in the series and the third I’ve read. I’m now actively searching for the first three books about the Castlemere detectives which all seem to be out of print.

Bannister’s talent is to bring large events to a small town and yet make them seem realistic there. Other series flag when one extreme event after another breaks the bounds of credulity but I haven’t felt any of that from this series. In this book it seems as if a hired assassin is on the loose in Castlemere, hardly a common occurence in East Anglia, and the trio of detectives recognise that this is unusual but get on with their jobs in the best way they can.

Once again it’s the relationship between the three detectives that really holds the book together. The sergeant, the inspector and the superintendent are such different characters and their interactions with each other and with the outside world are drawn very believably. They seem to have all the failings of real people and few of the failings of other fictional characters.

(this is book 6 in the castlemere series)