#crime | Judith Barrow

Book Description:

2011. Redemption House is a godly retreat for the Brothers and Sister rescued from life on the streets. But when sudden fortune comes to Sister Grace, all peace vanishes—and so does Sister Grace.
2024. Family is an issue for Rosanna Quillan, still nursing the trauma of her mother’s suicide. At sixteen, she left home, to escape the misery, and that’s why she feels compel to pursue the search for a girl who did the same, sixteen years before. What became of Lianne, the girl that everyone liked, but nobody missed?
Rosanna’s quest leads to suspicion, deception and murder. Because not everyone wants Lianne’s mystery solved.

My Review:

This, the third in the Cold Case series, provides yet another riveting complex case for Rosanna Quillan. As usual, Thorne Moore leads us in one direction so that it seems inevitable that a crime will be solved in a certain way – and then, ultimately, take us unawares.

In the past I have said that whichever genre this author writes in, there is one thing any reader can be certain of when holding one of her books in their hands. That they will have a well written “absorbing story, with an innovative plot, meticulous settings that instantly give a sense of place, minor characters they will often either love or hate, and a protagonist with whom they will empathise.”

And This Cold Night is no exception. I enjoyed reading and following Rosanna Quillin’s investigations into Lianne Michaels’s mysterious disappearance, while, at the same time, she struggles with her own past. I’m just glad she has the reliable and loving Gethin by her side. (Giving no spoilers here to prospective readers – but hopefully just enough temptation, because this is a story that anyone who loves crime fiction, threaded throughout with the everyday life of the protagonist, won’t want to miss!)

I’m not normally a reader of crime fiction per se, but this series isn’t only the solving of crime – well I don’t think so, anyway. We get to know Rosanna: the historical background intricacies of her career, her personal life, her weaknesses and strengths, her relationships, past and present. Even Rosanna, when trying to understand what she’s doing, says herself that, “she’s now not sure how to describe her career, except that it involved detection…“

I was gripped by this series from the start. The first book – Best Served Cold – started Rosanna Quillin’s journey as a detective. I reviewed that book here.

The second of this series, Cold In The Earth, reviewed here, revealed even more of Rosanna’s past and her own doubts, failings, and sucesses that have lead her to this point in her life.

So, I was extremely pleased to read that this third book, This Cold Night had been published.

And, now I’ve read it, I’m equally pleased to be able to recommend it. No reader who, not only enjoys crime fiction, but likes a book that brings characters to life, and a puzzle to be solved, will be disappointed

I will only add one thing – although they are stand alone books,to get the most out of the Cold Case Book series, I would suggest to anyone that they read these books in the order they were published.

Trust is the one thing that families should be able to take for granted. Trust born from love, from the belief that each member knows the other because they have lived together, seen the weakness and strength of each other. Having faith in each other means there is trust in theirselves, in their judgements, in the confidence that they are implicitly correct in that conclusion. But of course trusting can be the automatic option, the unquestionable. It also avoids any confrontation between siblings, parents, relatives. It means that every one can get on with their lives, not having to think too hard about the actions of everyone else in the family. It’s taken for granted that each believes whatever they are told. Don’t question. In turn it’s accepted that each can also reveal whatever they want to disclose about themselves, their thoughts, their actions. And take for granted that they are believed.

There is only one problem with that premise. Everyone is alone in their heads. No one (whatever anyone believes to the opposite) can read minds. What we present to the world, the façade we choose to show is our decision.

And that is where the secrecy comes in. Although it’s undeniable that every family has its secrets, it’s the substance of them that count. Of course secrets can also be trivial, small, kept in a loving way (a celebratory surprise, a present) or as a kindness, hiding something that is better kept under wraps if the person keeping it believes that.

On the other hand, harrowing, life-changing secrets can damage an entire family for some time. Even forever. Those kinds of secrets break that instinctive trust, that belief that those closest to us, who we love and respect, are truthful. Are not lying.

Families can be complicated. That’s an obvious statement. And where there are families with secrets, there are stories. And these are the stories that are at the root of all my books.

Links:

The Stranger in my House

The Memory

Sisters:

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