Harvey, John – DARKNESS AND LIGHT

[LJ Roberts]

DARKNESS AND LIGHT (Police Proc-England-Cont) – VG Harvey, John – 3rd in series
William Heinemann: London,
2006- Hardcover

Before retiring from the force, Detective Inspector Frank Elder had a case of a woman, strangled, dressed and neatly laid out on a bed. No one was every arrested. Now, eight years later, Elders ex-wife asks him to help her friend whose sister has gone missing. When the sister is found in a manner reminiscent of the cold case, Elder believes the same killer is back.

Harvey is such an excellent writer. His plotting is tight and clean, if he begins a thread in one spot, you know it’s going to be picked up and finished in another. His characters are real, interesting and well developed. I particularly enjoyed the cameos by two characters from Harvey’s Resnick series. Beside being an excellent police procedural, it is an excellent follow-the-clues-to-find-the-killer mystery and those seem rare these days. The book did lose a few points with me as the motive was one we’ve seen before and the ending was a bit unsatisfying. Those points not withstanding, I always enjoy, and highly recommend, Harvey.