Description:
With the character of Declan O'Hearn, the amazingly prolific Robert Barnard pulls off the hat trick that every novelist attempts but only a fortunate few actually achieve: he creates a person we quickly come to care for, someone so unique and recognizable that we would know him if he walked into the room. Declan, an Irishman in his 20s, is a wandering minstrel, trying to see a bit of the world before he settles into whatever fate has in store for him. He is intelligent, eager to please, but lacks maturity. The plot revolves around the murder of a young man whose body is found dumped in an old car outside an Indian restaurant in the town of Haworth in Northern England. This is Brontë country, where throngs of tourists pay homage to the writing family. Sent from Leeds to investigate are detective constable Charlie Peace and his boss, detective superintendent Mike Oddie. Charlie's black skin marks him as an oddity in the small villages, but it also helps him dig up the kind of details which other cops might not be offered by the locals. Declan falls under an umbrella of suspicion, due in part to his relationship with his eccentric employer and the strange circle of acolytes who surround him. Peace and Oddie put together the pieces with skill. But this one isn't really a whodunit: you can probably figure that out in 50 pages. It's the motive and the circumstances of the crime that make the book a gem. --Dick Adler
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