When the Dead Cry Out by
Hilary Bonner
hbk out May 03
Published by Heinemann
at £18.99
Clara Marshall and her children disappear - and the entire community
suspects her philandering husband. But there's no concrete evidence for
the next twenty seven years. Then new events reawaken the case and her
husband is found guilty, though again nothing is as it seems.
Karen Meadows has been familiar with this local case since her mid teens
and now that she's a Detective Superintendent she's very motivated to
solve it. So is journalist John Kelly, though only one man knows exactly
why Kelly is so obsessed.
This reviewer didn't buy in to one of the major plot twists of this novel,
but Karen Meadows is such a sympathetic character that you want to keep
on reading. And the author courageously doesn't suggest that everyone
lives happily ever after, that ending so beloved of Hollywood and many
mainstream books. Karen, we suspect, will continue to live in sartorial
chaos and take unsuitable lovers. And she'll give up smoking, only not
just yet...
When The Dead Cry Out examines how the past affects the present and
how bygone crimes can be solved partly due to modern advances in DNA
examination.
When the Dead Cry Out by
Hilary Bonner
