The first novel in the Vera Stanhope mystery series.
Three women will be spending several weeks living together in a small rural cottage next to Black Law Farm. They have been hired to do some environmental studies on land that is being proposed as the site of a new quarry. If their surveys show any endangered or sensitive plants or animals, the quarry project will not be allowed to continue.
Naturally, there are proponents on both sides: business people looking to make money and locals hoping to find work at the quarry. And those who want the charm and beauty of the local countryside protected and those who are worried about the noise, dust and traffic they worry the quarry operation will create.
The first to arrive is Rachael, a woman who used to be involved with her boss Peter Kemp but he suddenly broke it off and got married to another woman. She is hoping her time with the study will give her some distance from her former lover and still current boss.
Unfortunately, soon after arriving at the cottage, she finds that a friend of hers, Bella, who lived at Black Law Farm, has committed suicide by hanging herself in a shed on the farm. Bella actually left a note addressed to Rachael, first of all saying she regretted Rachael would be the one to find her body. But beyond a few instructions, the only thing the note said about why was that Bella couldn't take it any more, without saying what it was she couldn't take.
The other two women arrive, Anne and Grace. Anne is a married woman who lives in a nearby town but apparently is not bothered by being several weeks away from her spouse. Grace is a smart but very aloof young woman who also has connections to the local area. What her roommates don't know is Grace has a reason beyond the survey work that brings her to the cottage.
While out doing her survey work, Grace doesn't come back to the cottage one evening. The area where the survey work is being done is not particularly dangerous but a search is begun to locate Grace but they don't find her until morning. She had been murdered, strangled.
But the police can't find any reason why Grace was killed. It didn't seem like the usual circumstances associated with the death of a person in an isolated location. She wasn't well known in the community even though she has tenuous connections to a local family, the Fulwells. Her early life was unsettled as she spent most of her childhood in foster care, going from foster family to foster family. Her mother died when she was a youngster and her alcoholic father abandoned her.
Nor did Grace's death benefit either the mining interests or the anti-mining interests. The main investigator, Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope, is stymied. She just can't nail down a reason for Grace to have been killed.
And then Grace's father, who had moved back to his hometown, also is found murdered. Vera, the detective, begins to wonder if these murders have nothing to do with the quarry project and everything to do with Grace and Edmund's past lives.
This was an OK murder mystery. I didn't like that the author chose such sad, lonely outsiders as Grace and Edmund as the victims. That's so mean, to turn two people who have always been losers into the targets.
Also the book was too damn long. It was over 500 pages long. That's way too long for a murder mystery. Took me over a week to read it. Annoying!
Kirkus Reviews has a review of the story.
