Let the Dead Speak

Starred review from May 1, 2017
In Casey’s compelling, high-tension seventh mystery featuring London’s Det. Constable Maeve Kerrigan (following 2016’s After the Fire), Kerrigan’s homicide team wonder whether their approach has provoked additional crimes from suspects terrified into trying to protect their own secrets. One rainy day, 18-year-old Chloe Emery returns sooner than expected to her mother Kate’s house in Putney after a visit to her father and stepmother. Inside, Chloe finds an angry cat, blood streaks on the walls, and no sign of her mother. The evangelical neighbors next door, Mr. and Mrs. Norris—whose 15-year-old daughter, Bethany, is extremely close to Chloe—take her in, but they disapprove of single mother Kate, who often had men visitors, and are strangely unhelpful when Kerrigan and her crew investigate what appears to be a murder case. The intricate plot unfolds naturally, as Casey never lets readers stray from Kerrigan’s point of view, so that they feel as if they are figuring it all out with her in this increasingly dark and tragic story. Agent: Arielle Feiner, United Agents (U.K.).

May 15, 2017
Unreliable witnesses make a London detective's job all but impossible in a missing person investigation that turns into a murder case.Coming home early from a visit to her father and stepfamily, Chloe Emery discovers her home covered in blood and her mother missing. In Kate Emery's absence, Chloe is put up by her best friend Bethany Norris' family, which includes her parents, Oliver and Eleanor, and Oliver's brother Morgan, who seems to have been staying there indefinitely. Oliver and Eleanor aren't thrilled with their new houseguest. Not only is Chloe not a member of their ultrareligious sect, but she's a little simple and at 18 doesn't understand things that 15-year-old Bethany has no trouble grasping. Chloe's cognitive shortcomings make it difficult for Metropolitan Police Detective Maeve Kerrigan (After the Fire, 2016, etc.) to get much out of her even though Maeve is known as a dab hand at extracting information from potential witnesses. The Norris family proves equally difficult for Maeve to deal with: Oliver is an overbearing father, Morgan a misogynistic bully, and Eleanor surprisingly unwilling to give Maeve access to Bethany, who may know more than she's letting on. Maeve's saving grace is that she's been paired with DI Josh Derwent, a longtime friend who holds similar views on the best way to get the job done. Treating Kate's disappearance as a murder makes it even harder for Maeve to investigate without a body, a problem that's exacerbated when key witnesses go missing. Have they been taken, or are they running from the truth? Casey's hallmark ability to balance character development and suspense works well in a story sure to make readers squirm.

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Starred review from May 1, 2017
Getting to the truth is no easy job for newly promoted Detective Sergeant Maeve Kerrigan and close colleague DCI Josh Derwent. Logical assumptions prove false, and wrong turns are taken after the partners are called to the blood-soaked home of divorced Kate Emery. Chloe Emery, 18, Kate's only child, returns unexpectedly early from her remarried father's house to encounter the slaughterhouse scene, which sends the homicide unit searching for Kate's body. Meanwhile, Chloe, determined not to return to her father's house, stays at the home of neighbors Eleanor and Oliver Norris, whose 13-year-old daughter, Bethany, is Chloe's closet friend. When the two girls disappear, the diligent investigators gradually find that the neighborhood hides a trove of secrets, some of them long-buried by the Christian fundamentalist Norris family. As suspicion turns from one person to another, and more bodies appear, Casey also reveals some inner thoughts of Derwent and Kerrigan, as each confronts hard truths about his or her life and work, with Derwent forthcoming about his fears. These character-driven Kerrigan mysteries are among the genre's finest, and the last page here is likely to leave readers breathless and longing for Casey's next.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

March 1, 2017

Is London police detective Maeve Kerrigan dealing with murder? Teenage Chloe, who seems to be hiding something, has returned home to blood-soaked carpets and no mother. Casey won the Mary Higgins Clark Award for 2015's The Stranger You Know.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2017

Following After the Fire, Casey's seventh novel in the "Maeve Kerrigan" series is just as good as its predecessors. Maeve, now a detective sergeant in the London police, is part of the team investigating the disappearance and suspected murder of a single mother in a London suburb. The ultrareligious neighbors are taking care of the victim's daughter but behaving suspiciously, and the daughter refuses to stay with her father. Another neighbor, who has had run-ins with the law before and refuses to cooperate with the police, is also under suspicion. And, although a great deal of blood was found at the victim's home, the police cannot locate the body. VERDICT Casey's usual intricate plot twists and excellent character development make this book hard to put down. Recommend to readers of Sharon Bolton's "Lacey Flint" crime novels. [See Prepub Alert, 1/30/17.]--Lisa O'Hara, Univ. of Manitoba Libs., Winnipeg

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.