April 20, 2020
The discovery of the bodies of five young women, all strangled, buried in a valley south of Dublin kick-starts Spain’s capable third mystery featuring Det. Insp. Tom Reynolds of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (after 2019’s Beneath the Surface). Uncommon blue flowers planted around the graves, which a botanist determines come from Ireland’s southwest, lead the police to deduce that the killer may be a sales representative for a gardening company. Meanwhile, 19-year-old Fiona Holland goes missing while walking home from a bar in a village outside Dublin. With the autopsy reports showing that the five murder victims were each held captive for a short time, Tom and his team are under the gun to locate Fiona as soon as possible, in the hope the killer has her and she’s still alive. A touching subplot concerning Tom’s friend Sean McGuinness, a former NBCI chief superintendent whose wife has Alzheimer’s, adds emotional depth. Spain keeps the reader guessing to the end. Fans of contemporary Irish police procedurals will be rewarded. Agent: Nicola Barr, Bent Agency.