View source for Let the Dead Speak by Jane Casey

{{infobox1
|title=Let the Dead Speak
|author=Jane Casey
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=Crime
|summary=A brilliant police procedural which reads well as a standalone despite being number seven in the series.  Beware though - you're likely to end up going back and reading the first six.
|rating=5
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=400/13h49m
|publisher=Harper Collins
|date=March 2017
|isbn=978-0008149017
|website=https://twitter.com/JaneCaseyAuthor
|cover=0008149011
|aznuk=0008149011
|aznus=0008149011
}}

Chloe Emery might have been eighteen, but she wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, as the saying goes.  So when she came home from staying with her father and his new family earlier than she was expected, she didn't immediately notice the state of the house.  It was when a neighbour arrived that they realised that the house was the site of a brutal attack and that her mother was missing.  It's not long before DS Maeve Kerrigan and the murder investigation team decide that this is a case of murder, despite the lack of a body.  Kerrigan's determined to get Chloe to talk, but it's impossible.

Chloe refused to go and stay with her father, but won't explain why.  Something had obviously happened on her visit and on top of this she had to cope with her mother's disappearance.  Fortunately the Norris family were able to offer her shelter for as long as she needed it and there's another benefit too: Chloe is very friendly with Bethany, the Norris's daughter.  There's a four year age gap, but Bethany is mature for her age, whilst Chloe is immature for hers.  It seems to work.  But the more Maeve Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwent investigate the more they realise that there's a wealth of secrets in the street, with everyone having their own ideas about who is responsible.

I seem to be making a habit of joining police procedural series when they've got a good few books under their belt.  This time I'm joining at book number seven and I expected to feel at sea.  There's obviously a history between Kerrigan and Derwent: a sexual chemistry which never seems to have been consummated, although there are those on the CID team who doubt the truth of that.  But rather than feeling at sea I felt completely at home before I was more than a few pages into the book.  More to the point, I simply couldn't put it down.

The plot is superb: it's not overly complex to the point where you give up trying to follow what's happening, but there are plenty of twists and I really hadn't sussed out what was behind the crimes which were committed, or the name of the murderer.  And even when you get to that point there's still a particularly sharp twist at the very end.  It's sheer brilliance.

Characterisation is absolutely superb.  Even relatively minor characters come off the page and stay in your mind long after you've finished reading.  They're three dimensional and each has their flaws.  I liked new entrant DC Georgia Shaw, who's come through the graduate scheme, is very sure of herself despite being something of a liability on the streets.  She'll be one to follow in future.

I was so keen to find out what happened that I bought an audio download of ''Let the Dead Speak'' (which I paid for myself).  It was narrated by Caroline Lennon and I was impressed by her delivery.  Her voice is easy to listen to and she has a good range of character voices, both male and female and I was never in any doubt about who was speaking.  I'd be delighted to hear more from her.

I'd like to thank the publishers for making a copy available to the Bookbag.

If you've enjoyed ''Let the Dead Speak'' you'll find that [[It Should Have Been Me by Susan Wilkins]] is of similar quality.

[[Jane Casey's Maeve Kerrigan series in Chronological Order]]

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