Siren Song by
Robert Edric
hbk out June 04
Published by Doubleday
at £16.99
The second in a trilogy of novels featuring Hull-based, private investigator, Leo
Rivers, from an author more familiar for his literary novels. In the best tradition of
gumshoe stories, Rivers is a thorn in the side of both the police and the great and the
good as he takes up the case of Alison Brooks; a girl allegedly drowned.
At the time of her disappearance from a stranded boat, Alison was the girlfriend of
property tycoon, Simon Fowler. Her dying mother is convinced that Fowler was
responsible for Alison's death, and that it was no accident. But Fowler had solid
alibis and an inquest returned an open verdict. Rivers' investigation, aided and at
times hampered by his news agency friends, Sunny and Yvonne, leads into a world of
human trafficking, corruption and aggressive development deals. It is also a world of
shifting truths and unreliable accounts; as treacherous as the Humber Estuary marshes
where Alison died.
The pace is measured, the writing confident, with a brilliant portrayal of Hull
festering in a heat wave. The narrator's tone is compassionate and ironic, though the
sleuth himself remains something of a mystery. Edric tackles serious issues and the
complexities of friendship and love and still delivers enough twists to satisfy the
thrill-seeker.
Manchester Evening News 10.7.04
(
Cath Staincliffe
author of the popular Sal Kilkenny mysteries set on the mean streets of Manchester)
Siren Song by
Robert Edric
