The Italian Girl by
Patricia Hall
hbk out May 98
Published by Constable
at £16.99
On Coronation Day a beautiful Italian girl went from her home in Bradfield, a Yorkshire conflation of Bradford and Sheffield. More than forty years later, her bones are dug up and suddenly the police have a murder on their hands. DCI Michael Thackeray is in charge of the case and he soon discovers that those who knew Mariella have more than one secret to conceal. When a witness is himself murdered, the case takes a more urgent contemporary twist.
Laura Ackroyd, Thackeray’s journalist girlfriend, is also involved in the case because her ailing grandmother, once a formidable local politician, remembers Mariella well. And there’s also a connection with a fading heartthrob from Los Angeles, John Blake, who grew up in Bradfield and is now back in town to publicise a projected remake of Jane Eyre.
Patricia Hall is a find. Characterisation and setting are both superb. She creates that rare sense that her characters continue living beyond the page. There is moral outrage here, too, which sharpens the story’s cutting edge. It has to be said, however, that plot is not this novel’s strong suit. The predictable, contrived ending with its implausible action scene is a disappointment.
Still, there’s no doubt that Ackroyd and Thackeray are a combination to watch.
(
Andrew Taylor
- author of the highly acclaimed Roth & Lydmouth Series)
The Italian Girl by
Patricia Hall