Review of "Shadow Sands: A Kate Marshall Novel of Suspense" by Robert Bryndza

 

In this second book in the 'Kate Marshall' series the former police detective looks into a death and a disappearance. The book can be read as a standalone.

*****

Kate Marshall was a Metropolitan Detective Constable until she discovered that her boss, DCI Peter Conway - with whom she'd been romantically involved - was a serial killer.



The subsequent scandal, plus the fact that Kate was pregnant with Peter's child, got her fired. Since then Kate became an alcoholic, lost custody of her (and Peter's) son Jake to her parents, started going to AA, and became a criminology lecturer at Ashdean College in southern England.



Jake is now 16-years-old, and Kate - who's on the wagon - has partial custody.



In addition to teaching and looking after Jake, Kate puts her cop instincts to good use as an 'unofficial' private detective, in collaboration with her academic assistant Tristan Harper.



Over summer break, Kate and her son Jake are scuba diving in Shadow Lakes Reservoir near Ashdean, when they discover the body of 19-year old Simon Kendal.



The police call it an accidental drowning, but Kate sees signs on the body that suggest otherwise. Thus, when Simon's mother - insisting her son was a champion swimmer - asks Kate to investigate, the former police constable agrees to look into the matter.



While Kate and Tristan make inquiries about Simon, they continue their duties at Ashdean College. There hunky Tristan catches the eye of Professor Magdalena Rossi, an exotic beauty from Italy.



Rossi is writing a paper about mysteries in the Ashdean area, including a giant pawprint and a slate of disappearances.



Magdalena is also curious about bodies found in the Shadow Sands Reservoir, a man-made structure that feeds into a hydroelectric plant. Rossi's been exploring the area on her Vespa, taking photos and interviewing residents, to get information for her study. After Magdalena tells Tristan about her project she asks him out on a date, but then she doesn't show up.....and seems to vanish into thin air.

The police are oddly reluctant to investigate Magdalena's disappearance, suggesting she voluntarily left town. When Kate pressures the cops to search the reservoir, the police make excuses not to, and investigate (what Kate considers) the wrong things.



So Kate and Tristan make it their business to search for Magdalena themselves. This puts the amateur sleuths on the wrong side of the region's dynastic family, the Bakers, who own a large portion of the reservoir and don't want anything to shut down the hydroelectric plant.

In the midst of all this hoopla Kate's son Jake says he wants to meet his serial killer father, Peter Conway, which Jake is allowed to do now that he's sixteen. Peter is incarcerated in Great Barwell Hospital for the criminally insane, and will only agree to see Jake if Kate visits him as well.



So mother and son trek to the hospital and (individually) speak to Peter, who sits behind a window of unbreakable glass. The conservations are surprisingly current and relevant...but you'll have to read the book to see what everyone discussed. 🙂

As the story unfolds Kate and Tristan are caught in dangerous situations, made worse by the fact they have no official standing to probe into criminal activity.



In addition to the investigations, we observe Tristan's sister Sarah plan her wedding; see Kate lamenting her son's increasing independence; watch Kate struggling with sobriety; learn some long-held secrets; and more.

My main quibble with the novel is the use of plot devices I've seen many times before, but this is a solid thriller with engaging characters. I look forward to the next book in the series.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author (Robert Bryndza), and the publisher (Thomas and Mercer) for a copy of the book.

Rating: 3 stars