Troubled Waters: An Alice Rice Mystery by Gillian Galbraith
| Troubled Waters: An Alice Rice Mystery by Gillian Galbraith | |
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| Category: Crime | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: The sixth book in the Edinburgh-based crime story tells a story where nothing is quite as it seems. An enjoyable and engaging read. | |
| Buy? Maybe | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 224 | Date: October 2014 |
| Publisher: Polygon | |
| ISBN: 978-1846972935 | |
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When we left DI Alice Rice she was newly widowed, but time has moved on a little and she's thinking about what to do with her life. Professionally she's more settled and now faced with an investigation into a body washed up on the foundations of the new bridge that's being built across the Forth. Establishing the identity of the young woman is the first problem and this leads Rice back to members of a religious sect with some very strange rules. And then a second body - that of a young man - is washed up on a beach and it's difficult not to assume that there's a connection between the two.
Meanwhile, a young disabled girl goes missing in Leith. Whilst the father is out looking for the girl - she's thirteen but could be taken for older - Lambie, her mother stays at home and worries herself sick. She'd probably go to the police, but the girl's father is reluctant to involve them. After all, she only got out of the car whilst he was paying for the petrol and she can't have gone that far, can she? It's happened before and there were problems: he'd rather not repeat them. But the girl doesn't speak, so it's unlikely that she'll be able to find her own way home though.
I like Rice - she's an older woman coming to terms with what's happened to her and determined to make her own way now that she's on her own. She's good at her job, conscientious and wants justice for the victims - and from the reader's point of view it's good to see a strong female detective on the Scottish crime scene. I was impressed too by the victims - alive and dead - in this story where nothing is quite as it seems. I've perhaps read far too many crime procedurals because the bones of the solution were obvious to me from a very early point but the journey to the solution made for an engaging read, particularly as the reader knows more than the police about certain aspects of the case.
As with The Road to Hell I didn't think that the plot was the strongest part of the book, but it's still a good read. Gillian Galbraith was an advocate for seventeen years and this obviously influences her writing and along with her obvious knowledge of the real Edinburgh gives the story a real and gritty feel. I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
One of our favourite crime novels of 2014 is Darkness, Darkness: Resnick's Last Case by John Harvey, but for more strong women in crime, try Remember, Remember by Lisa Cutts.
Gillian Galbraith's Alice Rice Mysteries in Chronological Order
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You can read more book reviews or buy Troubled Waters: An Alice Rice Mystery by Gillian Galbraith at Amazon.com.
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