Burying the Past (Fran Harman)
Detective Chief Superintendent Fran Harman of the Kent CID has a very full plate. The budget has been slashed, and a body has turned up in the garden of the old rectory that she and her fiancé, Assistant Chief Constable Mark Turner, are renovating. Wedding plans and a major building project are more than enough, but Fran also has to deal with the suicide of a fellow officer; an epidemic of metal theft, which affects her renovations; and a woman who confesses to stabbing a man who raped her. As she investigates the body in her garden, Fran notes that the previous owner of the rectory was extremely careful to cover her tracks. Then there are Mark’s grown children, who are not happy about the impending nuptials. In fact, one of them is behaving very strangely. Cutler effectively combines procedural detail with interpersonal drama. A good choice for British-procedual fans. --Barbara Bibel