cover image The Drowning Ground

The Drowning Ground

James Marrison. Minotaur, $26.99 (400p) ISBN 978-1-250-05419-7

Something wicked is afoot in Marrison's tense debut, set in the quiet, picturesque villages of the English Cotswolds. Chief Insp. Guillermo Downes gets on the case after the discovery on a remote hillside of the body of a man with a pitchfork stuck in his throat. The victim%E2%80%94Frank Hurst%E2%80%94had been leading a secluded life since the death of his second wife under suspicious circumstances five years earlier. Hurst's grown daughter, Rebecca, who left home after her step-mother's death, cannot be traced. The murder, coupled with intimations that the cold cases of two missing girls may be warming up, leaves Downes with his work cut out for him. Marrison, who was educated at the University of Edinburgh and now lives in Buenos Aires, expertly evokes a sense of place through descriptions of Cotswolds life. Downes's reminiscences of his Argentinian heritage lend color. The highly unusual denouement will catch most readers by surprise. Agent: Helen Heller, Helen Heller Agency (Canada). (Aug.)