Hurley, Graham - TURNSTONE

[LJ Roberts]

TURNSTONE (Police Procedural-U.K.-Cont) – G Hurley, Graham - 1st of series
Orion, 2000- UK Hardcover

Joe Faraday is a Detective Inspector in Portsmouth, a town beset with violence, drugs and an police force that’s understaffed and whose officers have problems of their own. Young Emma Maloney’s father has disappeared but she’s having a hard time getting anyone to take notice. However, when a boat off on it’s own during a sailing race capsizes, several men are lost at sea and Maloney was to have been one of the crew, Faraday begins asking questions about what really happened.

Hurley’s portrayal of the police--their strengths, weaknesses, personal problems, those who are ethical and those who are less than—felt very true. That, to me, was the strength of the book. The plot itself seemed a bit convoluted. The one element that really bothered me was that, in the prelude, Emma is the one who starts the entire story, yet she is mentioned only briefly in the rest of the story. It is the first book in a series, and felt to be a first book. I’d be interested to read a later book in the series, but don’t know that I’d seek them out.