In this 4th book in the 'Two Rivers' series, Detective Inspector Matthew
Venn investigates the deaths of two teenage girls. The book can be read
as a standalone.
*****
It's summer in North Devon, and
residents and tourists are looking forward to MillsFest, a two-day music
festival that features local bands and sells beer and alcohol. 
A couple of attendees will be seventeen-year-olds from London: brunette Hannah Armstrong and blonde Lottie Cauldwell. 
The
girls just completed their A-Levels, and drove to Millscombe to spend a
few days at Tide House - a vacation home owned by Hannah's family.
The
morning after the festival, Detective Inspector Matthew Venn gets a
call from Detective Sergeant Jen Rafferty, the duty detective. Jen
reports, 'We have a body and a missing young woman at a fancy holiday
home out at Millscombe. The owner is a politician called Paul Armstrong,
who turned up this morning with his wife and two young sons.
Armstrong's daughter and her friend arrived Friday morning. The
Armstrongs found the friend drowned in the pool and the daughter
disappeared."
Matthew
meets Jen in Millscombe, a tiny hamlet that features a pub called the
Fisherman's Arms, the Brennan farm, and a few scattered houses,
including Tide House. Paul Armstrong explains they found Lottie in the
pool, and he and his wife Cath fear their daughter Hannah was kidnapped,
perhaps for ransom or political reasons.
Things
are even more dire than that because Hannah's body is found in the
woods below Tide House. This sets off a murder investigation led by DI
Venn, whose team includes DS Jen Rafferty and Detective Constable Ross
May.
Interviews
with family members reveal that Lottie and Hannah met at a private
school in London and became friends. The detectives also learn Hannah
had a boyfriend in Millscombe, a lad named Jake Brennan whose parents
own the Brennan farm - a working farm that hosts the music festival and
rents out glamping pods.
When
the investigators trace Lottie and Hannah's activities in Millscombe,
they learn the underage girls tried to buy alcoholic drinks at the
Fisherman's Arms and were refused. Lottie made a big fuss and
antagonized the owner. Then, over the weekend, Lottie engaged in other
mischievous behavior. 
The
detectives also learn that an American couple renting one of the
glamping pods on the Brennan farm, Geoff and Karen Kinzalow, have a
daughter Elizabeth who went to school with Lottie and Hannah.
The
murder investigation moves along very slowly since the detectives speak
to the same people again and again; key persons make themselves
unavailable; and almost everyone either lies or withholds information.
In
the meantime, Matthew Venn and his husband Jonathan Church have a
personal concern. Jonathan is an adoptee who's found his birth mother,
and they've arranged a meeting via email. Both Jonathan and Matthew are
apprehensive about the reunion and its possible aftermath.
The
'Two Rivers' novels are character studies as well as mysteries, and
it's interesting to see the changes in the protagonists' lives.
DI
Matthew Venn was brought up in a religious sect called the Barum
Brethen, which shunned him when he lost his faith, and estranged him
from his parents. Matthew's father died, but he's now partly reconciled
with his mother, who knows Matthew is gay, and that his husband Jonathan
is part of his life.
DS
Jen Rafferty is a single mother who was struggling to raise teenagers
Ella and Ben, do her job, and have time to party. Ella is now off to
university; Ben is in the sixth form; and Jen doesn't party so much as
enjoy an evening glass of wine with her musician neighbor.
DC
Ross May had inflated ideas about his abilities, and chafed at being
assigned (what he considered) boring, mundane police duties. Ross has
now learned to interview witnesses and no longer complains about routine
assignments. Ross might have matured because of potential fatherhood,
since he and his wife Mel are trying to have a baby.
The
story moseys along to a conclusion that will get the best of most
armchair detectives. I enjoyed the novel, but became irritated with the
detectives' snide thoughts about 'rich people', 'educated people',
'successful people', 'well-spoken people' and so on. What's wrong with
being
smart and doing well?
I had a digital copy of the novel as well as the audiobook, narrated by Jack Holden, who does a fine job.
Thanks to Netgalley, Ann Cleeves, Macmillan Audio and Minotaur for ARCs of the book.
Rating: 3 stars
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