Hopes and Fears by
Peter Turnbull
hbk out January 05
Published by Allison Busby
at £18.99
Once again, a Yorkshire Detective Chief Inspector story, this time with a
somewhat different type of lady friend from the usual in this genre.
This is the eighth book about DCI George Hennessy, whose patch is
actually York itself, which the author describes in great geographical
detail. In a hot summer, the body of a young woman is found in a wood,
but she is icy cold and has been deep-frozen. The story revolves around
the hunt for her killer, George's sidekick Sergeant Yellich, who has
a domestic problem, which is touched on, then left in limbo - no doubt
readers of other books in the series will know what his wife's problem
was.
The fact that the body was still icy inside on a hot summer's day indicates
that it was transported only a short distance, and a series of leads,
including that of a beggar girl in the streets, direct them to a very nice old
gentleman who lives in a large house and befriends people down on their
luck. Further tracing establishes that the victim was from Eastern Europe,
a student looking for a British husband to gain her residency in Britain.
Not a bad story at all, though the culprit is obvious from half-way
through, with a welcome absence of the now-obligatory obscene language
that disfigures so many crime books. Peter Turnbull has a rather old-
fashioned formal style and vocabulary, using words such as 'methinks'
and 'thence', which is not unattractive. However, his ideas of police
procedure and especially forensic pathology are quaint, to put it mildly -
his lady pathologist (is there now any other sort in contemporary crime
fiction?) decides not to open the skull in a murder corpse with a head
injury... and examines the stomach contents by cutting across the
abdominal wall! Well, so what, I know nothing about nuclear physics or
deep-sea diving!
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
Hopes and Fears by
Peter Turnbull
