Tangled Web UK Review October 2000
Tread Softly by
Georgie Hale
hbk out July 00
Published by Hodder & Stoughton
at £17.99
He kills redheads and he’s back, stalking victims at the university town of Blackport. Seven murders in twelve months attributed to the Beast of Blackport, identified years before as Gavin O’ Driscoll who did a vanishing act but has returned with a vengeance. Detective Inspector Dave Shenfield is at breaking point, his investigation no nearer to catching the Beast.
Flora Castledine, a new student from the Isles of Scilly, with a sheltered background, has arrived at the university. Flora is a redhead, young and pretty and eager to experience the freedoms of life away from her cloistered home. She soon falls head-over-heels in love with charismatic Kieran Willerton, star of the drama society, and gets the part of Juliet acting opposite his Romeo.
Meanwhile Dave Shenfield struggles with unsympathetic colleagues and the uncooperative authorities at the university where his estranged son Christopher teaches. The bitter feud between the pair is aggravated by the police enquiries but before long a further gruesome murder leads to devastating consequences for each of them.
Tread Softly is a promising debut, a traditional whodunit in a contemporary setting which directs our suspicions to several possible culprits. Georgie Hale creates a fast-paced story with a dramatic denouement set on the Isles of Scilly.
Manchester Evening News 28.7.00
(
Cath Staincliffe
- Author of the highly acclaimed Sal Kilkenny Mysteries set on the Mean Streets of Manchester)
