Perils of the Night

Reporter Laura Ackroyd (The Dead of Winter, 1997, etc.) goes undercover on a dangerous assignment in Hall's latest suspenseful police procedural. Residents of the city of Bradfield in Yorkshire are turning vigilante to run prostitutes off the streets. Convinced by her editor that posing as a hooker will provide good cover to get the story, Laura fakes going on the stroll. She is arrested for solicitation, however, and learns later that a young woman, a seemingly innocent university student, has been brutally murdered on the very street where Laura was posing. Laura's lover, Chief Inspector Michael Thackeray, is in charge of the investigation. As he proceeds with the inquiry, he discovers that the murdered student, Louise Brownlow, may have been hooking on the side in order to pay her way through the university. The case complicates in unexpected ways, but in time Laura and Michael arrive at the truth behind the killing. This is yet another darkly compelling mystery from Hall, memorable particularly for its well-detailed setting, intelligent, vital lead characters and dark-hued plotting. (Jan.)