Walking into the Ocean: A Peter Cammon Mystery

Set in England, Canadian lawyer Whellams’s enjoyable first mystery introduces 67-year-old Peter Cammon, a retired Scotland Yard inspector who still assists the police on occasion. A husband-wife murder-suicide takes Cammon to the coastal town of Whittlesun, where local authorities are focused on finding a serial killer of young women dubbed “the Rover” by the press. Cammon is open to theories other than the official one regarding the marital violence, including the possibility that the husband faked his own death to start a new life elsewhere. Predictably, Whittlesun’s lead investigator, Insp. Roger Maris, isn’t delighted by Cammon or his unorthodox methods. Though it takes a while for the book’s energy to shift from potential to kinetic, the plot builds to a dramatic and suspenseful climax. The author’s refreshingly clear-eyed portrayal of his hero (“Peter Cammon felt superior to psychology, in the way that many people do who have never studied it”) is a plus. (Apr.)