Review: A very welcome newcomer
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 10, 2014
Ms Longmuir is well-known for her dark modern mysteries set in Dundee but her historical novel, A Salt-Splashed Cradle, has already shown her flexibility in terms of genres. And now, this new departure is going to add further to her reputation. She’s nailed the setting of Dundee just after WW1 in perfect detail but she’s also placed in that setting a group of characters (with specific focus on her new policewoman, Kirsty Campbell), whose interactions and back stories have created a narrative rich in potential right from the start. As well as being in the forefront of the investigation of cases of murder and disappearing children, Kirsty has unresolved issues with her family and is also faced with the seemingly impossible task of getting herself accepted as a legitimate, useful member of a police force resistant to the new-fangled notion of female officers. Longmuir reveals very sparingly the details of other threads which will no doubt be explored in subsequent books in the series, such as the troubled domestic circumstances of her new boss, Inspector Brewster, and yet still manages to sustain the page-turning pace of the central investigation of a crime involving traumatised and damaged children. Such a stunning first in a series suggests we’re going to see lots more of this new, highly original protagonist. She’s a very welcome addition to Scottish crime fiction.