My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Michael Hambling is a newish author on the venerable English Mystery scene, having first been published in 2016. Dark Crimes is the first in a series featuring DCI Sophie Allen, a brilliant Oxford graduate who has devoted her career to serving the public good through law enforcement. She is also devoted to her husband and their two adolescent daughters. Though billed as a thriller, this novel is presented more in the tradition of the classic police procedural, with subplots involving the personal lives of the investigative team. This opening salvo in the series, which is set in Dorset, focuses on the murder of a young woman in a small town, a crime that is quickly followed by the deaths of other women. After a false start, Sophie’s team soon theorizes that all of them have been committed by a single man, perhaps a psychotically violent one. The cat and mouse game that follows is only resolved as Sophie, who has a Master’s degree in psychology, develops insights into the whys and hows of this man’s functioning.
Readers looking for unending suspense and graphic violence will not find them here. What can be found is a strong, talented, and determined female protagonist who is the driving force behind the plot. Other characters, including investigators, perpetrators, and those who are affected by these murders are also well developed. A plus is following the investigation into the cities and byways of
Dorset, which like all English counties, has a personality of its own. This is a thinking reader’s mystery that ultimately reaches a deeply satisfying solution.
You're History! 