No Corners for the Devil
Olive Etchells, .. Carroll & Graf, $25 (286pp) ISBN 978-0-7867-1565-7
Set on Cornwall's scenic Roseland Peninsula, British author Etchells's smoothly written police procedural features an intuitive and sensitive hero, Detective Chief Inspector Channon. When Rob and Sally Baxter moved from urban Manchester to the old round house by the sea, they thought they had realized their dream of a more tranquil life for their family, until the discovery by their younger son, Ben, of the body of a teenage girl washed up on the beach. The girl has been murdered, and Channon's assistant, the unpleasant Sergeant Bowles, regards the Baxters' older son, Luke, as the chief suspect. Sally has her hands full, as she tries to shelter Ben, prove Luke's innocence, deal with her problematic relationship with her adolescent daughter, Tessa, and fathom Rob's strange attitude toward the killing. When another brutal murder rocks the farming community, Channon must draw on all his resources to bring the mystery to a surprising conclusion. Channon's compassion for the families of the victims, as well as his ability to delegate and to synthesize information, leave the reader eager to see more of him—soon.
Reviewed on: 05/09/2005
Genre: Fiction