The second novel featuring Fran Harman, the Detective Chief Superintendent from Kent. She'd had a bad time in her first outing, and I thought it was time to improve her lot. But since she's a serving police officer, whose work has become her life, I couldn't suddenly take her and Mark on a wonderful protracted honeymoon in an idyllic part of the world.
Cutler's books certainly stand out from the herd. The Morning Star
Instead I thought I'd give Fran some contemporary crimes to deal with - and what more contemporary than the weirdly named happy slapping? And why not make her a crime victim herself?
I also updated bullying: it was bad enough when I was young, with name-calling and physical attacks, but the term hardly begins to describe the torment that computer-literate schoolchildren can inflict on their peers. Then I introduced a third contemporary problem, stalking - and a victim who was perversely in denial.
Just to make life even more hectic, I set Fran and Mark off house-hunting, possibly the most depressing and dispiriting occupation one can voluntary undertake. But Fran and Mark remain positive, and the last chapter leads into the next Fran Harman book
Joffe Books
15 May 2024
In the excellent tradition of the previous stories in the series… an entertaining book that holds attention right to the end.
Crime Squad