A Restless Evil by
Ann Granger
A good traditional village whodunnit, the latest of a long series of 'Mitchell and Markby'
books, featuring Detective Superintendent Alan Markby and his mature girl-friend
Meredith Mitchell. The locale is the Cotswolds and in this story, specifically the isolated
and rather dismal village of Lower Stovey, where the familiar picture of a closed school
and shop and a vicarless church mark the decline of village life.
The detective and his fiance go to view the unatttractive old vicarage, when Markby
recollects a series of rapes that he investigated wenty years ago in the nearby woods. At
the same time, a hiker finds bones in the same woods, then one of the village residents is
found stabbed in the empty church. The story revolves around the personalties of the
residents, who in spite of an influx of commuting outsiders, form a residue of the old sub-
culture of the village, complete with past intrigues and scandals.
A good straightforward tale of the countryside, well-plotted and very well-written by a
resident who has a feel for that area of England.
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